The Psi Gene
by Bright Yellow Bumblebee
Summary: The psi gene. A single gene on chromosome 11 made from 20 base pairs that codes for psychic abilities. Many people have an inactive gene but those with an active psi ability have the power to change the world. For better or worse...
1. Prologue

Well, this was inspired by a marathon viewing of X-Men, can you tell? As usual, read and review please, as I would like to know where I can improve. I won't be arrogant and say there is no where I can improve.

Haven't decided if there will be yaoi. I don't write het and it may just be friendship but I shall change the summary and rating accordingly if it does become yaoi.

I don't own Prince of Tennis and its affiliations.

* * *

Prologue

The psi gene. A single gene on chromosome 11 made from 20 base pairs. The order of those 20 determines the state of someone's psychic abilities. Much of the human race has an inactive psi gene thanks to the invalid base arrangement. However, there are those select few whose gene is active, and highly active at that.

These people are sent to special schools and then work for specific institutions who aim to utilise their talents for the entirety of mankind whilst maintaining the rights of the Psis. Companies consult the institutions and decisions on whether to help or not are determined by the Psi Coaches, individuals who have no psychic talent themselves and so, can impartially decide who to aid.

Murders, undercover operations and general national crises are resolved quickly with the help of these special individuals. Above the law in that they could take action that regular citizens could not, the Psi Coaches regulated their activities also, to ensure illicit behaviour was limited.

However, each and every Psi is aware of the origin of their powers. If the psi gene could activate and mutate to give them all a single power each, what was holding evolution from mutating further to award multiple talents to one person?

Some Psis were lucky enough to be awarded two powers and others had such complete control over their talent enabling them to branch out into other areas related to their power. Like a high level telepath becoming an empath. The special schools and institutes afforded better control for the Psis, so control and development of their powers was high and as a result, higher levels were being established.

Levels were determined by psychic control and psychic power. Level ones were the weakest, with minimal control and little power. Psis with two powers were ranked around level six and the highest level anyone with one or two powers could attain is level eight. Level ten was the level reserved for the multi-talented and highly powerful mutation, should it ever arise. There has been no recorded existence of a level ten, now or in the past.

Still, the search for the level ten continued, with each institute on the watch. For the presence of a level ten would shape the new world.

End of Prologue

* * *

Rather short, I know. I'm just experimenting at the moment.

Let me know what you think. R&R

Bumble


	2. Chapter 1

Wow, you made it passed the prologue. Thanks for continuing.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed for all the nice comments I've received. They really cheered me up.

After writing certain scenes that were immediately deleted from my C drive never to see the light of day again (or the internet), I have decided that this story shall be a friendship fic. Sorry if you wanted yaoi but I'm sure that some of the friendship scenes you could turn into UST if you wanted. Not really sure how, but might be possible.

PLEASE READ. 'TIS IMPORTANT: A quick apology accompanies this chapter. I'm posting this in a vain attempt to procrastinate; I have my end of year exams next week, which is why this post is earlier than intended. However, these exams last about 3 weeks (yup, over Easter and everything) so, unfortunately, the story will be put on the back burner for a little while until they are done.

If anyone is interested, it's two practical exams (taking blood, catheterising people, etc), a clinical sciences exam (pathology, immunology, infection, clinical chemistry, radiology, etc), a "medicine and surgery" exam (diseases, how they present, how they're treated, epidemiology, etc), a statistics exam, three tailored histories, a viva (portfolio discussion), another viva (poster and audit), a 30000 essay on early staging of colo-rectal cancer and a presentation on the same and I have to write a paper for publishing for my public health project.

Not much huh? BUT, it will ALL be finished in 3 weeks, so the next chapter will be posted after that point. Maybe even a double post if you're lucky and my exams didn't do too badly.

THIS IS NOT A HIATUS, just a notice that the next update will be a little slower than this one.

Once again, I do not own Prince of Tennis or its affiliations.

* * *

Chapter 1

Moonlight crept along the shadowed pavement, casting grotesque silhouettes and creating eerie apparitions from them. The lunar crescent and midnight wind morphed seemingly normal objects into those from a horror story; tree branches became reaching fingers and fallen leaves became ominous footsteps.

Treading this uncertain path in the midnight hours was a decidedly unscrupulous looking individual. A long trench coat covered their person and a matching dark trilby covered their hair, leaving their lower face and eyes visible. Cruel, malicious, black eyes.

With the ease of someone who had practiced this, the person entered an even gloomier looking alley and knocked three times on the grimy door located between the bin of rotting food and the empty cardboard boxes housing a homeless man with questionable hygiene. Quickly, they entered through the door and sharply shut it, as if to ward of possible evil miasmas. Or just the smell.

If they had looked back at the homeless man in the box, they would have seen a smirk spread across his face and a hand slowly reach behind him for a mobile phone.

However, they did not. They walked down the darkened corridor, trying desperately to avoid the broken glass and dubious looking liquid on the floor that smelt strongly of ammonia. Finally, they reached another door, but this one was ever so slightly different to the previous in three ways. The first being the lock: sturdy, strong and undoubtedly difficult to break. The other two reasons were staring back at them with thinly veiled contempt.

Both were taller than the person in the trench coat, and both had black hair. The taller of the two had cold purple eyes and the smaller (if only by half an inch) had unforgiving grey. Both, however, instilled a deep sense of foreboding in the person.

"I'm here to see Mr. Akuzet," they squeaked and could understand why the corridor smelt so strongly when the shorter leaned forward threateningly and smiled. Like a shark.

"And who are you?" he questioned.

"I'm Sasabe. He should be expecting me," the newly revealed Sasabe said, lifting his head so that his frightened, pale visage could be seen.

"Fshuu. I don't remember any Sasabe being on the guest list for tonight. Do you Ichigo?" the shorter said to his companion.

"Nope. I don't either, Mamushi. We should ask the boss. We can't just let him in. We can't."

Sasabe started sweating profusely when he reaching into his pocket to pull out a phone. Speed dialling it, he brought it to his ear, his eyes never once leaving Sasabe's form.

"Ah, Mutsu. Do you have a Sasabe scheduled to come in today? What? Yeah, he's here now. Uh-huh. Sure, we can handle him. The usual right?" he conversed with this "Mutsu", a feral grin spreading.

After hanging up, he reached out for the lapels of Sasabe's coat and pulled him forward. "You're coming with us," was all he said before he dragged him through the now unlocked door.

A few winding corridors and one staircase later and they were in front of yet another door. Knocking politely and opening it, Ichigo dragged Sasabe inside, with Mamushi following.

Unlike the rest of the building, this room was opulently furnished, with a cherry wood desk, leather chair and expensive carpeting. Behind the desk was a stern looking man with frameless glasses perched upon an unsmiling face. His companion, standing respectfully behind his chair and to the side, was grinning inanely with his eyes tightly shut behind brown bangs.

The stern man motioned for Ichigo to let Sasabe go and for him to have a seat across from him. He did so tentatively.

"I am Akuzet. What do you want?" he said, cutting straight to the point with directness that was slightly shocking to Sasabe. However, he soon recovered his composure.

"Well, Mr. Akuzet, sir," he began in a voice so oily Mutsu almost had a compulsion to wash his hands, "I heard you were new to the area and thought that you might enjoy a sample of the local produce."

At this Ichigo and Mamushi exchanged glances and Mutsu looked positively delighted. 'Must be an addict,' Sasabe thought knowledgably, almost counting the money he'd make in his head already.

Until he looked at Akuzet. Stern brown eyes bored into his and felt like they were probing his soul. Minutes of staring passed before the same direct voice as before cut through him.

"What kind of produce?"

Sasabe smirked. Hook, line and sinker.

Or so he thought.

"Well, there is a wide variety of available products, but for a man of your standing, may I recommend something?" he questioned, and then continued despite no answer. Putting his hand in his pocket, he grasped something and started to slowly withdraw his hand, making Mamushi and Ichigo reach for their pockets also.

What Sasabe withdrew was something completely different to the contents of their pockets, but made them mentally sigh all the same. A small clear packet filled half full with a white powder was presented to Akuzet as though it were the Holy Grail itself. Akuzet motioned carelessly with his hand and Mutsu came forward. And _smiled_.

Not a friendly smile, but that of a cheetah. Or a fox. He took the packet and withdrew a pocket knife. Sasabe almost started panicking before he witnessed Mutsu slice the bag open and place a small portion of the powder on the blade.

Opening his eyes, Mutsu pinned Sasabe with an electric blue gaze and, whilst looking straight at him, licked the blade of the knife in a motion that was either incredibly threatening or sensuously decadent. Sasabe couldn't decide, but either was just as scary as the other.

Mutsu paused thoughtfully and nodded to Akuzet. At this point Sasabe thought he had the deal in the bag. Here he was, dealer to the new head honcho in town. His position would be secure and his life cushy.

Lost in his fantasies, he didn't notice Ichigo and Mamushi approaching him until they were stood right behind his chair. Each seizing one arm, they hoisted him up and held him there, ignoring the indignant splutters, as Akuzet rounded the table.

"What's going on? Mr. Akuzet, sir, what's happening," the weasel ranted, each word repulsing Akuzet more than the last.

Finally, standing directly in front of him, Akuzet reached into his pocket and withdrew a badge. Flipping it open with practiced ease, a logo was displayed. A red, white and blue logo.

"But-" Sasabe muttered, despite knowing what was coming.

"Sasabe, you are hereby apprehended by the Seigaku Psi Team for dealing in illegal substances," Akuzet recited emotionlessly as Ichigo and Mamushi led the now arrested felon out of the door to the waiting car.

Alone in the room with Mutsu, he sighed and sat down.

"It's over now Tezuka," Mutsu said, "time to go home."

"Ah Fuji," Tezuka said and picked up his coat, following Fuji down the corridor and out of the "foreboding" door. As he was walking past the homeless man in the boxes, he paused and whistled.

A rustling was heard and the vagabond raised his head out of the box.

"Time to go home Eiji."

And with those five words, the previously dour and apathetic man became bursting with energy and trampling ahead of the other two, talking to himself about having a shower and talking to Oishi before the night was over.

"You'd never think his codename was Manx would you?" Fuji said somewhat sarcastically and Tezuka let a small smile slip at the comment. 'Never could there have been a more fitting moniker made for Eiji,' he thought and with that, both left the building and their codenames behind for the night.

* * *

In a shadowed room across town, eight people congregated. Despite the poor lighting, the presence of these people made it so that more lighting was unwanted. The feeling that their faces would be the last ones someone saw was immeasurable.

"So, is everything prepare," a gentle voice intoned and there were murmurs of ascent scattered around the room.

"Then let us begin."

End of Chapter 1

* * *

If anyone is confused on the codenames:

Ichigo = Momoshirou

Mamushi = Kaidou

Mutsu = Fuji

Akuzet = Tezuka

Manx = Eiji

Sasabe = Sasabe (the long running gag "villain" of PoT)

If anyone can work out why I chose those names, you get a cyber cookie. :) Tezuka's doesn't count because I was having a really bad day by that point. And if you don't know the meaning behind Kaidou's, then I refer you to PoT manga and anime.

'Kay guys. Let me know what you think. R&R

Bumble


	3. Chapter 2

Well hi again. Thanks for reading this far. Thanks for all the nice comments I've received; they really cheered me up. You may be happy to know that exam period is over (Hurray), so updates may become more frequent. Here's chapter 2 for you. Unfortunately, the plot still hasn't arrived yet. Maybe it is travelling by foot. Or by UK rail.

I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its affiliations

* * *

Chapter 2

The sun was blazing that morning, making the day picturesque especially with the cascade of sakura petals falling gently to the ground. There was an air of appreciation of the tiny cherry blossoms even in a built up, urbanised area like Kantou.

However, one figure was not standing in awe of the day. He was smirking though, as he gazed, not at the sun, nor at the little pink petals, but at a tall, imposing building with no adornments beside "Seigaku Psi Facility" emblazoned on its front wall. Tugging down his cap he entered through the automatic doors, amused at the thought of what his arrival would do to its occupants.

"Good work last night boys," an aged woman said, the wrinkles around her mouth tightening with the beginnings of a smile at the thought of what would happen to the scumbag in the holding cells. Her blue eyes gazed around the room at the people responsible for that person's apprehension, focusing on each boy stood in various places. She was proud of her boys.

Her boys. Not by blood, but she trained each one to be a benefit to society. Especially so as the boys were all psis and she, a psi trainer by the name of Ryuuzaki Sumire.

She was somewhat of a celebrity in the psi world. Not because of any particular trait or power that was strong in her family (none of her family had any psi talent to speak of) but because she was a strong – read: strict – trainer. Having trained a Level five to become a Level eight; she was renowned for being able to get power from the powerless.

Thus she was highly sought after and would only train those who she deemed worthy. So, Seigaku, her current place of employ, had to be selective of those admitted.

Out of all her psis, she had a team of eight that performed actions for the community. She was proud of all her children, but these boys _shone_. So different but so compatible all the same. Able to work together but so individual and independent at the same time.

The self appointed "captain", Tezuka Kunimitsu. So strong and dependable, able to form the most impenetrable of barriers that would only let through things he wanted to go through.

The gentle empath, Oishi Syuurichiro and his partner, the bouncy Kikumaru Eiji who had the most interesting talent of copying himself a number of times.

The mysterious Fuji Syuusuke who was prodigal in his progress, having been a Level six when he came to her six months ago and was now a Level 9 with the ability to control the receptors in the skin of any he touched.

The passionate Kawamura Takashi who could make the strongest flame and the nullifier Inui Sadaharu who could stop that fire whenever he deemed.

And the youngest two of the group, Momoshiro Takeshi and Kaidou Kaoru, who could make spirit blasts and control animals respectively.

Quite possibly the strongest psi team in all creation, she was immensely pleased. And they were about to become even stronger. She almost smirked at the thought of what their reactions would be.

"Right then. Before you all go for a much needed break-" here some actually cheered (mostly Eiji and Momo), having stayed up all night completing reports on the drug bust, "- I have something I want to speak to you all about. Rather someone."

Having successfully piqued their curiosity, she rummaged in her file for a piece of paper. Taking it out, she handed it to Tezuka, who studied the photo intently.

"This is Echizen Ryoma," she said as he looked into the gold eyes surrounded by messy green hair and resting above a cocky smirk, "the world's only Level ten."

_3... 2...1_

"WHAT?!"

'Wow. I never knew Oishi could get that loud,' she thought, 'or that male vocal chords could go that high.'

"But, but, but, that's impossible," Momo exclaimed. "There's never been a reported ten before. It's just not possible, that it's not."

She turned and looked at the other members of her elite psi squad and found Eiji, Kawamura and Kaidou in similar states of disbelief. Fuji just looked as all knowing and smug as usual and Inui was furiously noting down in his pocket notebook. Quiet whispers of "Ii data" came from his corner.

Tezuka's reaction was quite possibly the funniest thing she had ever witnessed. Renowned for his stoicism, seeing him with his eyes wide in disbelief was a great gift for anyone. She immediately wished that Fuji had his camera in his possession today. She could make a fortune in the psi community with a photo of a shocked Tezuka.

Deciding she had had enough fun at the expense of her team, she continued. "Echizen Ryoma, the first Level ten, is here in Kantou and I have requested that he join the Seigaku Psi team. And, fortune has smiled upon us, since he has accepted, despite having similar offers from Hyoutei and Rikkaidai."

All ears perked up at this. To be offered a place in the prestigious Hyoutei or the infamous Rikkaidai was a dream. And to have passed them off for Seigaku was a mystery and an honour.

"I personally knew his father, Echizen Nanjirou, who was a fine Level nine back in the day. What was his power again?" she mused.

"Echizen Nanjirou, 42 years old. Known to the world as Samurai Nanjirou because of his ability to cut through someone's mind like a katana. A strong level telepath, reportedly a Level nine, he mysteriously vanished 15 years ago and was never heard from again."

All eyes turned to Inui as he read from his secret notebook. Ryuuzaki-sensei nodded in ascent.

"Yes that's right. A telepath. Now, this son, Ryoma, is 16 years old, so is rather young, so play nice boys." She smirked. And then turned to the door.

"You can come in now," she said.

"Hai," a high voice said and the illustrious Echizen Ryoma walked through the door.

'He's rather short isn't he,' thought Fuji, 'and cute too.' Longish wild green hair framed a heart shaped face and large gold eyes peered through his bangs. A white Fila cap rested upon his head and made him seem smaller and cuter.

"Thank you. And I'm not short," the short cutie said looking directly at Fuji. A quick flash of surprise flitted across Fuji's face before it was covered up by a sly smile.

"Woah, he's a 'path?" Momo said, looking fearfully around the room.

"Yes I am, "Momo". And please stop acting like a moron before I decide to tell everyone who your secret crush is," the sardonic reply came quickly.

"Ooh, nice," Fuji exclaimed, liking this boy even more than he did before, both for the speed he had managed to get into Momo's head and for the use of blackmail. Always happy if someone was being extorted, Fuji's smile got even wider (if possible) and he looked positively sadistic. To the extent that everyone backed away from him.

Echizen took a quick glance around the room, smirking at the flabbergasted occupants. Trying to figure out who they were was a challenge in itself considering Ryuuzaki-sensei hadn't given him any descriptions. Well, "Momo" could be of some use at least. Or his brain anyway.

There was the guy with the glasses on the far left who he presumed was Tezuka and someone with their hair closely cropped to their head barring two pieces on his forehead, Oishi perhaps. For some reason, when he glanced at the corner and saw the person wearing the bandanna, Momo's brain provided him with an image of a snake. 'A viper I believe,' Ryoma thought.

Looking further around, there was the guy with the large sideburns: Kawamura and the tall boy with the creepy looking glasses: Inui. Momo himself was seated on the bench, next to the closed eyed person that thought he was short. 'Fuji' Momo's mind said.

'Hmm, you're in the bad books Fuji,' Ryoma thought, and projected it to all. And all shivered at the mental probe and the fact that Fuji's eyes had opened. Not expecting the vivid blue colour, Ryoma was momentarily shocked, but recovered quickly.

'Wasn't there supposed to be one more,' he thought, recalling that Ryuuzaki-sensei said there were eight members of her famed squad.

"Kwah!!! Ochibi is sooooo cute!!!!" an exuberant voice exclaimed and then, Ryoma felt as if he was being strangled. 'Must be Eiji,' he thought since a stray thought from Momo proclaimed him so.

Everyone looked on as Ryoma's first Eiji Glomp (tm) was delivered. They watched him turn red, then purple and finally start turning blue.

"Kikumaru let him go!! I didn't go through all that trouble getting him for you to kill him on the first day!" Ryuuzaki-sensei said angrily.

Reluctantly, Eiji let him go and Ryoma got a first look at his tormentor. And was not expecting red hair and a cat-like disposition. 'Oh well. Pennies and pounds.' He thought.

"Echizen Ryoma. Yoroshiku," he said and bowed sharply at the waist. He then turned to Ryuuzaki-sensei and inquired as to what everyone's powers were.

"Well, boys, you heard him."

Momo, still slightly miffed at the mental probe, loudly said "why can't he look into our minds and find out."

Echizen turned and looked at him then, gazing with those disarming gold eyes. "Just because your mental shields are low enough that I can graze your surface thoughts, doesn't mean I can just delve right in an grab your knowledge. Also, lowering your shields enough to do so would probably hurt some of the members of this facility, like the empaths and telepaths.

"Furthermore, if I lower my shields enough to go and rummage around your mind, which I consider rape by the way, I would go insane from the mental influx of the city's thoughts, which I would probably project onto the people close to me. Like you.

"So save me the agony and spare yourself the pain and just verbally tell me," he finished his speech with a frown and a crossing of his arms.

Feeling appropriately chastised at the thought of hurting everyone – and mildly angry at the notion of being reprimanded by someone his junior – he began the introductions.

"Momoshiro Takeshi, 18 years old. Level 7, I shoot spirit blasts from my hands."

"Fshuu, Kaidou Kaoru, 18 years old. Level 7, I create and control creatures," the one Momo called Viper said.

"Oishi Syuurichiro, 19 years old. I'm a Level 8 empath. Nice to meet you Echizen," said the boy with the strange haircut.

"Nya, Kikumaru Eiji, 19. Call me Eiji," the chipper redhead said. And then suddenly there were 2 of him. "Call me Eiji too," the clone said, just as hyper as the original.

"Ok Eiji, we get it. He's an 8 too," Oishi said and then there was one Eiji. 'Thankfully,' thought Echizen.

"Kawamura Takashi, 19 years old. I'm a Level 8 as well. I can make fire," the boy with the sideburns said.

"Inui Saduharu, also 19. I'm a level 8 nullifier," said the boy with the creepy glasses. Echizen actually edged away from him, causing Inui to break out his notebook and make some more notes.

"Saa, my turn? Fuji Syuusuke, 19. Level 9. I can control your receptors," said the smiling fox.

Knowing he would regret it but Echizen asked anyway: "What receptors?"

"Why skin receptors of course. I can make you feel undiluted pleasure or make you writhe in agony with a single touch."

Shivering but comforted by the fact that it was touch controlled only, Echizen looked at the final person.

"Tezuka Kunimitsu, 19. Level 9. I make shields." Short, clipped and to the point. Nice.

Smirking, Echizen began to answer the questions on everyone's minds.

"Echizen Ryoma, 16 years old. Level 10. Telepath, telekinetic and a precognitive."

Then he gave them a truly wicked smirk and looked directly at Fuji.

"Looking forward to working with you."

End Chapter 2

* * *

There you go.

2,000 words and pretty much all of it was introduction.

Well, next chapter, we might actually see a hint of the plotline appearing. It might be a little while away, but I shall endeavour to have it completed soon.

R&R

Bumble


	4. Chapter 3

Well, congratulations for reading onwards. Many cyber-cookies for Khelc-sul Renai who was the only one who attempted the code-name challenge. Here are the right answers for you all now:

Tezuka = Akuzet. Akuzet is Tezuka backwards and I will fully admit to having a mental block at this point, with the imaginative well sending me notes saying to stop drilling there because nothing else was coming out.

Fuji = Mutsu. According to Wikipedia, Fuji is a type of apple and so it Mutsu

Momo = Ichigo. Well, from my understanding, Momo is peach in Japanese and Ichigo is strawberry. But Khelc-sul Renai made a delightful comparison between Momo of PoT and Ichigo of Bleach. Lovely imagination :)

Kaidoh = Mamushi. If you don't know this one, I'd advise you to watch/read PoT

Eiji = Manx. I will admit to stealing this from Weiss Kreuz. With Abyssinian and Manx being the two redheads and both names being cats, I simply chose the one that was easiest to spell.

Other code-names will come up as the story progresses.

An uber-long update for you all this time :). Well uber-long for me

* * *

"Echizen Ryoma, 16 years old. Level 10. Telepath, telekinetic and a precognitive."

Then he gave them a truly wicked smirk and looked directly at Fuji.

"Looking forward to working with you."

* * *

Silence. Complete and utter silence followed that statement. And considering there was the combined vocal force of Eiji and Momo in the room, it was quite an achievement. Fuji smirked as he looked around the gym like briefing room at everyone's faces. How he wished he had brought his camera with him that morning; the looks on his teammate's faces after meeting the world's only level 10 were rare and priceless.

Although, possibly not priceless if someone like Atobe was willing to pay for Tezuka's photo. Oh the possibilities.

Momo's face was especially wonderful. At finding out that the chibi was, not only a telepath, but a precognitive and a telekinetic as well, Momo's face had dropped into a truly spectacular impression of a fish if Fuji did say so himself.

Echizen's face was exceptionally smug, seemingly pleased with the level of bewilderment and mental chaos his statement had caused, smirking away with twinkling eyes.

Ever the perceptive one, Fuji couldn't help but think that he was keeping something from them. When he voiced this with knowing blue eyes, Echizen's smirk grew (if possible).

"Well, I suppose if we're going to be working together, you might as well know," he intoned, sounding contradictorily deadpan but still looking smug, "I am only precognitive when I'm asleep. I'm a dream-walker."

Well, needless to say, Eiji was impressed whispering a breathy "just like Jirou" in the background. However, impressing Eiji wasn't an especially difficult task. Fuji knew from experience that he still fell for the removing thumb trick.

But Echizen wasn't finished.

"And my telepathy means I can, shall we say, copy another Psi's ability."

Silence. Pin-drop silence. Like the one before but this one was tinged with a degree of horrifying terror. Psi copying ability had _never_ been recorded before, not even rumoured in the Psi's extensive rumour mill (a group of adolescents together means rumours are bound to happen).

Sure, there were Psis that could copy another's appearance, like Kabaji of Hyoutei, or the advanced ones that could even copy another person's behaviours and memories, like Niou of Rikkaidai, but copying a Psi talent? Such a new and dangerous skill, the possibilities were endless.

With the Psis being so well known and publicised, their abilities were no secret to anyone, so it was highly likely that Echizen could already assimilate their talent.

He was, quite literally, every single Psi in the world. If he ever decided to use his talent to create chaos, there was very little anyone could do even in the unlikely event of Hyoutei, Rikkaidai and Seigaku combining skills.

Suddenly, Echizen's head whipped around to face Momo. "I don't care if you don't believe me," he said straight at Momo, indicating that he had been listening in on everyone's mental reactions to his news. Ever so thankful he hadn't thought anything particularly sadistic, Fuji watched in perverse fascination at the car-crash-esque scene that was sure to commence in 3...2...1...

"Quite frankly, your deluded view of what I am going to do with this power is disgusting and sickens me to my very core. If you honestly think that I am going to try to "rule the world with my unnatural powers that go against the very nature of Psis", your words not mine, then you are in dire need of either a lobotomy of some more education, since you obviously stopped yours at age 6.

"I shall have you know that I have had these powers since I was born and if I haven't taken over the world in the past 16 years, what makes you think I am going to just because I met you all? It is quite astonishing the level of your arrogance and egoism, but strangely, you're not that important. To me or the world.

"I am here to make a difference. If I wanted arrogance and egoism, I would have gone to Hyoutei and met up with the Monkey King and if I wanted to rule the world, I would have gone to Rikkaidai who, if you haven't noticed, have been doing so in the shadows for years. But I chose here, because the crime solve rate of Seigaku is higher than the others. Granted not as famous but I don't want fame.

"So get over your petty delusions and get over yourself and show me at least some attempt at co-operation. Otherwise, I'll go where I am likely to be more appreciated."

'Well, he certainly doesn't disappoint,' thought Fuji, who after wanting something car-crash worthy in destruction and sadism, found it in Echizen's speech.

A clearing of a throat distracted him from mentally applauding Echizen for a cutting diatribe, and also distracted him and Momo from exchanging furious glares. Well, more like Momo was on the receiving end of a glare that Echizen was giving.

Everyone turned to Ryuuzaki-sensei, who was the one that not-too-subtly cleared her throat. "As much as I hate to interrupt this truly warm meeting between peers," she started, with a tone of voice that dripped with sarcasm, "but I would like to get home at some point today and that can only be done after assessing Echizen's abilities."

Even Tezuka looked interested in assessing the chibi's abilities. 'He's certainly losing his stone-faced reputation today,' thought Fuji. Although, he was perfectly willing to admit that he himself was looking forward to seeing what he could do.

"So, we're going to have a little sparring session. Since you two seem to be getting along so well, how about you have a round with him Momo?" she said. Fuji then re-evaluated his opinion of his dear Sumire-chan. She was much more sadistic than he previously thought. Such an idea was one worthy of his level of sadism.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

After a quick change of clothing for both Momo and Echizen – Momo's coming from his locker and Echizen's coming from Fuji's, so he looked adorably cute in the oversized clothing – the two fighters-to-be were facing each other in Seigaku's impressive gym. Fully equipped with the latest gadgets and apparatus, it was truly a high class facility.

"Right then you two, I want hand-to-hand fighting in this spar. We'll test your psi abilities later Ryoma," Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

Momo seemed to perk up a bit at this announcement. Hand-to-hand was something he was good at. Being a very physical person, he relied more on his combat skills than his psi ability sometimes. It was just no good firing blasts at someone like Tezuka for example.

Echizen, he observed, didn't look particularly put out by this proclamation. 'He must be confident in his combat skills as well then,' Momo thought.

When Ryuuzaki-sensei blew the whistle signalling the start of the match, neither one leapt into immediate action. Like two predators eyeing each other up, they carefully watched one another's movements for any strikingly visible weaknesses.

Momo made the first move, after five minutes of waiting. Never a particularly patient person to begin with, he literally sprang into action with a leap similar to that of a basketball player preparing for a dunk.

Mid-jump, Momo pulled his right hand back and prepared for a frontal punch that would have dislocated Echizen's jaw.

If it had connected.

In an amazing display of agility, Echizen spun on his left leg whilst catching Momo's hand. With strength that was not reflected by his size, using Momo's momentum he promptly flung him in the direction of the Seigaku spectators. Only a quick shield raised by Tezuka prevented them from being crushed by Momo.

After crashing into barrier, Momo flipped himself upright once more and looked incredulously at Echizen. "How-" he started but was promptly made to shut up by both the look from Echizen and the smaller deciding it was time to strike back.

Echizen fought, Momo decided, like some kind of refined savage. All attacks and very limited defences, he came at Momo with his impressive strength and started attacking him in a flurry of fists and feet.

After defending himself against a high kick delivered from Echizen, Momo decided enough was enough. Using the arm he had protected his face with, he grabbed Echizen's ankle and threw him directly upwards to the high ceiling.

Echizen's next move literally drew gasps from the watching members. He flipped himself mid air and instead of hitting the ceiling head first, he touched it feet first and immediately grasped one of the beams. Standing there for a few seconds, he seemed to be analysing every movement Momo made; from his chest expanding with his next breath to the tiny twitches his muscles made when he contracted them slightly to keep them active.

Deciding he was done analysing, Echizen let go of the beam and dropped from the ceiling. He then, with a truly sardonic smirk on his face, drew his right hand back into a position that was eerily similar to the one Momo had done to him earlier.

"That's Momo's move, isn't it, nya?" Eiji said, looking on with a gaping mouth. Next to him, in a similar state of shock, Oishi nodded. Momo narrowed his eyes as he watched the approaching person. And he met the punch head on. Blocking Echizen's right fist with his left palm, he tried admirably to block the shot.

For the most part, he succeeded, but he did slide backwards a few inches when negating the power of the shot. When the punch had been diffused, he refused to let go of Echizen's right hand and aimed his own punch for the chibi's head.

And let out a frustrated growl when it didn't connect. Echizen had used the fact that his hand was caught to flip himself upside down, pivoting in Momo's grasp. Momo's punch then hit empty air as Echizen's body became perpendicular to the ground. Once his punch missed, Momo became slightly unbalanced and that was all the opening Echizen needed.

Using the momentum of his flip, he broke himself out of Momo's grip and dropped cat-like to the ground. He fell into a crouch and swept Momo's feet out from under him. Once Momo crashed to the floor, he leapt up and bent over his prone form to place the flat of his hand to Momo's neck.

"Yield," he said quietly but it carried around the gym.

"I yield," Momo said, looking shocked and incredibly worn.

Echizen then shifted off of Momo and, in a move that shocked the other members of the gym, offered his hand to Momo for leverage in standing up. Momo accepted it and was soon righted on his feet again.

Staring at Echizen with an unreadable look on his face, he took a breath and then began gushing.

"That was amazing! When you stood on the ceiling, I've never seen anything like that before, that I haven't. And when you flipped over my arm, incredible." Apparently any grievances he had with Echizen were forgotten in the wake of a good fight.

"Glad I could entertain you for a while," Echizen drawled looking as though he had just stepped out of bed instead of finishing an intense workout.

Ryuuzaki-sensei took that moment to interrupt. "As touching as this scene is, I think it's time to test his psi abilities. Now, we can't measure the precognition yet, since he needs to be asleep-" she looked at Echizen for confirmation for this and he nodded "-but we can test the other two. Now, who wants to grapple with a telepath?"

The remaining members of the Seigaku crew exchanged glances. None looked particularly eager to go one on one with a telepath. Ryuuzaki-sensei sighed and chose someone seemingly at random.

"Kaidoh, you're up."

Kaidoh didn't look any different at the announcement, save a slight widening of his eyes. He shuffled forwards with a slight "Fshuu" and swapped places with Momo. The only words exchanged between the two was a "don't underestimate him" from Momo and a "like I'd do that" from Kaidoh.

And then, the second match began.

* * *

Compared to the previous match, this one was shorter and was less entertaining for the spectators. Kaidoh began the match by summoning the king of beasts by stretching his right hand out and waving it up into an arc that finished above his head. Never one to be small and subtle, summoning a lion was just like how he would start.

'I'll keep him busy with my animals and wear him out before he can attack,' Kaidoh thought, but did the one thing Momo warned him not to. He underestimated Echizen's telepathy.

Apparently, Echizen's telepathy was so powerful, it was effective on animals as well. No sooner had the lion pounced into action did it halt when Echizen made eye contact with it. Turning incredibly docile as soon as Echizen invaded its mind, it even allowed him to stroke its impressive mane.

Looking as though he was gazing into its soul, Echizen kept his strong gaze upon him and then released him.

Immediately upon release, the lion spun around and stalked in Kaidoh's direction. Looking mildly panicked, Kaidoh attempted to communicate with the beast only to realise he couldn't. Forced into the action, he banished his first summon and stared at Echizen.

"I can turn any living creature against you. Do you want another demonstration?" he asked and Kaidoh's faced turned into a truly furious expression. He then summoned his most loyal creature: a viper.

"Let's see you deal with this one," he growled and the snake slithered towards an immobile Echizen. Winding lovingly up Echizen's body, the giant serpent prepared to squeeze him to within an inch of his life, as ordered by its Master.

Then it saw Echizen's eyes.

Promptly unwinding itself from Echizen's person, it laid itself on the ground like an overgrown dog, domesticated and tame.

"Is it my turn now?" Echizen said then and, using the power of his telepathy, struck a pose similar to that Kaidoh took when he was about to summon; right hand out and near the floor. Sweeping his arm upwards, a snake materialised in front of him and started heading straight for Kaidoh.

"You can't control this one since it is one of my summons," Echizen said. "If you want me to call it off, tell me you yield."

Kaidoh remained firm but eventually resigned himself to the inevitability of winning against someone who was effectively himself.

"I yield," he growled and the snake immediately vanished in a puff of smoke, both his and Echizen's.

"Impressive display, ne Tezuka?" Fuji said, eyes open and interested. The other members inched away. An interested Fuji was a dangerous Fuji. Tezuka just nodded stoically.

"Just telekinesis left," Kawamura said, wondering, like the others, who would be the prince's next opponent.

"Now then. Let's have you using telekinesis against someone." Putting her finger to her mouth, Ryuuzaki-sensei seemed to be in deep thought about who would be up next. The next word out of her mouth shocked all and actually caused Echizen to flinch a little.

"Inui."

* * *

"Telekinesis verses nullification. This will be good," Fuji purred. As much as the other's didn't want to agree, a match against a nullifier was always a good thing to watch.

"Echizen will soon learn frustration against Inui," Momo said, watching in anticipation.

Once again, the two combatants stood opposite one another and prepared to battle.

"Percentage of victory for you in this match: 3%" Inui recited and Echizen's eyebrow twitched.

"We'll see," he said and that was the signal for the match to start.

Echizen began this match, the first of all three he started himself. He flung his left hand out to the side and the basketballs that were placed neatly in their container sprung to life. Like orbiting planets around a star, they approached Echizen and he skilfully commanded them. Flying at Inui with impressive speed and power that looked like it could shatter bones if it collided, they sought their target.

Only to stop feet away from Inui's person. Nullifying the telekinesis placed upon the spheres, he caused them to drop to the floor, harmless balls once more.

"Not good enough Echizen," Inui said. "My nullification can cause anything psi controlled to become useless when within 7.31 feet of myself when active."

Echizen took this information and mulled over it for a while. Inui lifted his calculating gaze to Echizen and watched him try to think of a way out of his predicament.

Really, in Inui's opinion, nullification was one of the best powers to have. Not only did it render all mental attacks against him useless, all physical ones could be stopped once they were within his orb of control.

He could understand why psis were inordinately fearful of nullifiers. He and others like him rendered the talented psis into talentless, ordinary people. And some were unable to cope with this.

The only way someone could beat a nullifier was to be another nullifier. To nullify the nullification. A conundrum in itself. And Echizen was not a nullifier. Though he could copy their power, he was not allowed to in this battle and has nothing to use against him but telekinesis, which, unfortunately for him, came under the category of physical powers.

Pity, Echizen.

However, when Inui looked more intently at Echizen, he saw not the look of despair he expected, but one of triumph. 'That was not supposed to happen,' Inui thought, 'he cannot have thought of a way through my nullification. The data didn't purport him being able to figure it out.'

'No, it's a trick,' Inui thought, 'and he's trying to unsettle me.'

"Tell me, Inui-sempai," Echizen said, distracting Inui from his inner monologue, "what does it take to distract you?"

'What does that have to do with anything?' Inui thought.

His perplexed look must have reflected onto his face and Echizen answered the unasked question. "You said that you have a nullification radius of 7.31 feet when your nullification ability is active. Psi abilities take concentration to activate. So, how do I break your concentration?"

"How did he figure that out?" Momo said incredulously.

"He really is prodigal in all areas," Kawamura whispered in awe.

"Ahh," Echizen said, distracting them from their almost silent conversation, "I've got it."

And with that, he placed both hands on the floor and channelled his telekinesis into the floor. Activating the molecules in the waxed surface, they began to vibrate and move at a rapid rate.

Causing an earthquake.

Tezuka erected another barrier, this time between them and the floor, so the watching people wouldn't be affected by this astonishing display of telekinesis. Inui however, was not as lucky to avoid it.

As soon as the shockwaves hit him, he began wavering on his feet and Echizen took that to be his cue. Flinging his hands out, he beckoned the ropes used for climbing towards Inui and commanded them to restrain him.

Effectively distracted with trying to maintain his balance in the mini-earthquake, Inui couldn't activate his nullification powers to stop the approach of the cords, nor could he effectively dodge them and so, he became entwined within the strands of hemp.

Binding him tightly, the rope knotted itself and then fell inactive. Since it was held together with a knot and not with psi power, Inui couldn't undo it with his ability when the tremors stopped, thus, once again, leaving the battle in Echizen's favour.

Feeling that it was the end of the match, Kawamura and Kaidoh stepped forwards to untie Inui, who was gaping in silence. Someone had beaten a nullifier without the use of nullification. Amazing. Truly amazing.

"Well, I think we'll all agree that that is enough for one day," Ryuuzaki-sensei said, once Inui was on his feet and having finished gauging Echizen's ability in three separate areas. "You're all welcome to go home now if you want. I expect you all back here tomorrow morning at nine sharp. You too Echizen. I think we've all seen that you can be an effective member of the team."

Silently, the other eight people of the gym nodded in their acceptance of Echizen. Equally as silent, they filed out of the gym, all wondering how strong this prodigy really was if he was able to take down Inui.

Except Fuji.

Fuji was just thinking of how much more fun his days at work would become.

* * *

Well, end of chapter three.

I've jsut realised that I haven't included at dictionary for the terms I've been using. Oops.

Chibi - child/baby

Ochibi - the best translation I found for this was "baby boy"

Sempai - upperclassman

Sensei - teacher

Yoroshiku - shortened form of yorkshiku onegaishimasu - please favour me/please look after me

I think that's all I've used. Let me know if there are any others you don't understand.

R&R

Bumble


	5. Chapter 4

Hey guys. Sorry for the uber-late update. There is nothing worse than waiting for a chapter to come out. However, it has been really hard to post an update recently. I've just been discharged from hospital after having a ruptured appendix with post-surgical infection. It wasn't the funnest August I've ever had to say the least.

But here's the chapter. Hopefully it meets your expectations. It is a chapter with a lot of exposition in it, so forgive me for the lack of action. However, I promise lots in the next chapter (hehehe, I know what's coming up :) ).

Disclaimer (haven't done this in a while. Oops): I don't own PoT or any of its affiliations.

AN's can be read at the end of the chapter.

Enjoy x

* * *

None of the members of SeigakuPsi Squad got much sleep that night, all too busy processing and mulling over the bombshell that had been dropped on them not twelve hours prior. This new addition to the team was someone infinitely powerful but still childlike in some aspects. And all of them couldn't wait to see him in an actual setting, rather than a training spar. It was obvious to all involved that he had held back on those he had been pitted against, so his true strength was still a mystery.

Well, the Echizen household hadn't lost any sleep over their youngest member's performance earlier that day. A traditional house with proper tatami mats and low tables, it was also a silent one. Given that the males of the house were both telepaths of such strength, linking the lone female into a telepathic network wasn't that difficult. Echizen Nanjirou looked silently at his wife, Echizen Rinko from across the table as she worked on some documents she had brought home from the attorney's office.

'What are you working on?' he questioned and Rinko looked up. A psi herself, she was who Ryoma inherited his telekinetic powers from; she wasn't shocked by the mental intrusion. Having had sixteen years to adapt to her husband being in her head, she had learnt how to keep some things separate from him so he couldn't just find out through thought extraction.

'A case against someone who claims to be under threat from a psi to perform illegal actions,' she thought, not voicing them aloud knowing her husband would pick up the reason. Rinko was an attorney that specialised in cases where psis had abused their powers; a rather small legal speciality so she was often at work and rarely at home. She had made sure that she was in the house on that day to ask her only child about his day.

Ryoma had long since come home, relived the memories for their literal viewing pleasure and gone to bed, so it was just the adults who were awake in the old building.

Nanjirou looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and saw that it was reaching the first hour of the day. Mentally nudging his wife to stop working, she finally put her pen down and looked at him.

'Coming to bed?' she thought and gave him such a look that had Nanjirou falling in love with her once again.

He picked her up bridal style and walked briskly to their room. He didn't run as that would have shown he was too eager and given the game away, but a brisk walk was good.

He failed to notice Rinko's evil smirk, clearly inherited by her son, as the door to their bedroom closed.

Eight o'clock in the morning at the Seigaku Psi Facility and it saw all members of its famed squad sitting in the conference room, which was a rarity in itself as some of the people had never been inside the facility that early, mainly Eiji and Momo. Granted said members were dropping asleep on the highly polished oval table they were all seated around, but the fact remained that they were still there.

Echizen was present as well, but looked as tired as the other two, for reasons unknown to the longer standing members of the squad. And some didn't want to know. Tezuka appraised the youngest person on the team with a scrutinising look and decided that it was best left unsaid as to why he was so tired.

They were all seated and awaiting Ryuuzaki-sensei who had with her their next assignment with her. From the rumours, no doubt circulated by one of their kouhais who had a very loose mouth – and vocal chords unsuited to the male gender – it was a big one. Echizen's first assignment would be a good one then.

The door opened and in strode Ryuuzaki-sensei with no preamble. Fully focussed on her destination – the head of the table – she walked as if it were the week of the month that all males have learnt to fear. And for good reason.

Seating herself, she then turned to her boys and began to address them like a royal holding council. "There have been reports in the Kantou District of a psi gang in activity. Apparently, there are a group of males with psi talents going and running amuck in the area. They have participated in various crimes, ranging from vandalism to physical harm. However-" here she paused and sighed, suddenly looking as though she had aged another ten years, "-I think there is something bigger at work here."

"These attacks have been too varied to come from the same people, or if they did, not the same place of someone's mind."

"You fear a controlling telepath is at work here," Tezuka said, speaking for the first time that morning. Ryuuzaki-sensei turned her attention to him and nodded resignedly.

"Yes, someone powerful enough to control many people at the same time and make them do different things." She then turned her attention to their newest and youngest member, "Echizen, do you know of anything like this occurring in the telepathic community?"

Since telepaths were feared and generally unaccepted by the main psi populous, they often formed their own social network, isolated from the others so that they could interact in peace, without the worry of unfounded prejudices. As a high level telepath, it was likely that Echizen himself was a part of one of these communities.

Echizen kept what seemed to be his default level of disdain and laziness, although if someone looked close enough they would see an undercurrent of interest and slight worry in his penetrating golden eyes.

"There was a mention of something like this at one of the mental forums (1). All the telepaths were scared of someone trying to hunt us down thinking we were the culprits. At the last meeting, there was one mind in the forum that felt generally pervasive. No-one had ever felt this person at the forums before, which struck me as odd."

He could feel the questions emanating from the others, confused gazes now paying more attention to himself, rather than what he was saying.

"I have been part of the mental forums since I was a child. When I was considered old enough by my father, I was allowed to participate in them alone, but before that, I was a member with him tagging along with me for supervision. This is the expected action for the forums and since telepathy is a genetic trait, it is common for parents to introduce their children and monitor for a while, then withdraw. For someone to be new to the community and, from what I felt, they were no child, it is highly suspicious. Either their talent is a random genetic mutation or they have been keeping it very quiet.

"This person had some rather strange thoughts. You must understand that in a forum, your mind is completely open and all mental walls to the forum are dropped, but thoughts can be blocked and hidden if the person truly desires them to be. It makes the debates highly interesting and fast. It was odd because they made no attempt to hide any of their thoughts. Even I hide some when I'm in a forum, but their mind was completely open. When the topic shifted onto the violent acts, the new comer was extremely amused by the level of panic he was causing in the telepathic community. He seemed to consider the actions funny."

"Well, that sounds like a bad guy to me. Who was it?" Momo asked and then wondered why he got looks of disdain from Kaidoh and a gaze from Fuji that must have been patented by parents. The look where a child did something utterly stupid because he knew no better and there were on looking parents.

God he hated that look.

"Momoshiro, in telepathic forums, the identities of the telepaths are hidden from the others. Thoughts, feelings and opinions are open to one another but all the telepaths in the community meet up in what's called a common mind. It is an artificial mind where they can meet up and discuss things without having to actually be there or be meeting in one person's mind, which might breach their private mind. The artificial mind has some safeguards in place.

"First is that the telepath links to the artificial mind and as such, the others there as well, instead of directly to another's mind. Secondly, they must place somewhere on their body a neural controller to regulate their actions. If they mentally attacked another telepath whilst in the forum, they would have their identifiers downloaded into the police computer and would be detained. Finally, the artificial mind provides some degree of anonymity, as expected in all forums. They select a username at the beginning of their first session and every time they join the forum after that, they register in the other telepaths' minds as their username only, so that they cannot be identified in real life.

"Echizen will not be able to tell you this person's name as the regulations of the telepathic forums are stringent enough to stop even him from getting hold of them."

"However," Echizen said, after looking at the crestfallen faces of Momo and Eiji in particular, "I can tell you some things from the group. The areas that are being attacked are under the jurisdiction of the Fudoumine Psi Team. The members of the forum made some rather interesting remarks on this fact."

"Let me just ask the stupid question and be done with it. What remarks?" Momo asked.

"Well, the details of the attacks resemble the talents of the psi team operating there. For instance, one of the people had a severe case of muscle paralysis from a poison released into his airways and another said he was attacked by a wire. From my knowledge, these are both characteristic talents of psis on the Fudoumine team (2)."

Every member of the Seigaku team looked shocked at that information, barring Tezuka, but there was a slight widening of his eyes. No-one seemed to know what to say to this. Psis attacking the people they were supposed to be protecting? It had been unheard of since the regulations and psi coaches were brought in.

Unregulated psis were a danger to both the psi and non-psi communities. This was established. For them to be running rampant and openly so....

"Ok team, before we go in there we need some more information. Echizen has given us a fantastic start on this, so start gathering data and forming a strategy," Ryuuzaki-sensei said. At the word data, Inui had already gotten his book out and was writing pertinent information down at a fantastic rate.

"From what I can deduce, Fudoumine's team has the standard eight members and are under the supervision of a psi coach, but not one of standing. From what I've heard, their behaviour is comparable to that of the team monitoring the Chiba area of Japan. Rather strict and dancing on the border of reprimand but never committing anything that is obviously and seriously illegal."

Fuji decided to speak then for the first time that morning. "I suppose our best course of action would be to do another undercover operation again then. If it is psis that are behind the attacks in the area, then going to the district openly parading around as psis would only entice public fear and possibly anger. If we go in undercover again, then we can get to the bottom of this nice and discreetly.

"From the pattern of the victims, they seem to only be targeting males at night, which means none of us would have to cross dress. Unfortunately." He added, to the horror of the other team members. Cross dressing had honestly never crossed anyone's mind and the prospect was rather nauseating, if the images Echizen was receiving from Momo's head were any indication.

"They seem to be going for the taller males, so I suggest we split into three groups with Inui, Momo-chan and Taka-san as the baits, so to speak. We can split the rest of us depending on talents and cover you appropriately. If anyone encounters an attack, we can always use the mobiles and codenames."

"That reminds me, Echizen will need a codename. Any suggestions?" Ryuuzaki-sensei had a look comparable to a demon when this was suggested and Ryoma could feel his heart sinking to the bottom of his toes with the smirks that were growing on nearly every person's face.

"Chibi" and "Ochibi" were simultaneously shouted by Eiji and Momo with Fuji chuckling sadistically behind them like some kind of warped background music.

"Doubtful, since you two call him that anyway and it's not very unique is it?" Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

"What about Kitten?" Fuji said, probably not as a serious suggestion but just to see the look on Ryoma's face when he mentioned it. Precious, absolutely precious. Like some kind of cute furry animal trying to look mean. And failing miserably.

This went on for quite a while, Eiji and Momo seemingly endless in their suggestions, ranging from codenames based on his characteristics ("Goldie!" Eiji cheered), to his talents ("Creep," Momo shuddered), to the downright random ("Flower!" Eiji called and that one gained him odd looks from even Oishi). The others weren't chipping in as much as the other two but they provided a backdrop of hysterical laughter that seemed to increase in volume the redder Echizen got.

It was as if this was the only thing keeping them from breaking down at the prospect of catching and incarcerating their own. A pseudo-moment of calm before the veritable storm that was sure to erupt from the upcoming assignment.

Finally, Tezuka decided that his team had relaxed enough and also that Echizen had suffered enough. He put a stop to the banter with a well-placed suggestion.

"Hunin (3)," he said and everyone became quiet. Fuji began smiling in a less sadistic and more approving way and Inui was nodding thoughtfully, scribbling incessantly in his notebook. Kaidoh and Oishi looked the same as always but Taka-san, Eiji and Momo were looking puzzled.

"Nani? Nani? Nani? What's that mean?" Eiji asked OIshi and Fuji, both of whom looked at him fondly and explained in quiet voices.

And with that, Echizen was christened with his new codename and the new assignment was about to begin.

* * *

End Chapter 4

(1) A meeting that occurs in a common mind instead of a meeting place as such. Explained later in the text. Hopefully *fingers crossed*

(2) You'll understand when I post the next chapter. Hopefully not giving any major plotlines away.

(3) In Norse mythology, Hunin and Munin were Thor's birds. They mean thought and memory respectively. I was having a mental block (again. But in my defense, it's REALLY hard to think when on morphine) and I googled telepath and that was the result of link following. First thing that sounded interesting.

R&R


	6. Chapter 5

Howdi! Back again with a new chapter. This one has got LOTS of ANs at the end so read if you want to. As usual, please R&R

Disclaimer: Me No Own!!!!!!

* * *

Fudoumine town was a part of the Shinjuku (1) area in the Kantou region and was graced with an influx of tourists every weekend. Kouga Kyouya (2) didn't think he had a particularly interesting job and would much rather of been one of the sightseeing crowd. Standing in a corner of the station, handing out tissues (3) wasn't the most desirable job but he saw his share of interesting people. One group in particular was a group of nine males who had just exited the train station, fresh faced and clearly on a sightseeing weekend. Three of the nine had cameras whilst the rest had maps and tourist guides and they were standing in a circle deciding what to do. The red head and the one with violet eyes were arguing over where to go.

The others were in varying stages of embarrassment. The timid looking black haired boy looked like he was actively trying to blend in with the station walls, and the tall brunette, stern looking boy with glasses looked on apathetically. The creepy looking one with flashing glasses was writing furiously in a book and the positively mean looking boy was hissing and growling at everything that moved.

The tall, kind looking brunette looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. The other brunette, the waiflike boy, was watching the proceedings with a sadistic grin on his face, revelling in the discomfort of his friends.

Kouga almost missed noticing the last one for two reasons. The first was that he was a great deal smaller than the others and the second was that he had clearly just returned from the vending machine, with a can of Ponta in his hand and looked wholly unconcerned with the ruckus his colleagues were causing.

"I don't care where you want to go, Ichigo! I want to visit this place-" and thrust his finger onto the map in a completely different direction to the one "Ichigo" wanted to go to. The red head pointed to the Shinjuku Chūō Kōen (4), the famous park of the area and bounced up and down on the spot as if to prove a point.

"Ichigo" apparently thought that visiting a park, despite it being a beautiful park, was boring and proceeded to say as much to the redhead's face. "Manx, I didn't come all this way to go to a park. I want to go to the Golden Gai (5). Bars and clubs, Manx, bars and clubs!"

"Fshuu, bet you really just want to go to Kabukicho (6)," the mean looking one said with a venomous glare and the violet eyed "Ichigo" levelled his glare to him.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do-"

The predictable retort was cut off by the stern looking one with the glasses. Clearly he was some kind of leader for the group as just one glare shut up the arguing boys. No words needed.

"Maa, maa boys. We could always just split up and meet at the Shinjuku Anniversary Museum (7) at about three this afternoon. That way we can all see what we want to see," the small brunette said, and the idea was received fantastically by the others.

"Come on Kai, Hisoka, come with me to the park. Come on, come on, come on!" the redhead chanted excitedly, pulling on the hands of the tall brunette and timid black haired boy. "See you later Mutsu!" And with that, the whirlwind of red energy was gone, dragging his partners –victims- behind him with the little brunette waving after him like a parent seeing off a child.

"Akuzet, Mamushi, would you both like to accompany me to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building? It is the symbol of Shinjuku after all," the flashing glasses one said and the stern brunette and mean looking one nodded back in unison.

"Yes." And with that, they left with much less of a fanfare than the other group.

This left the small brunette, Ichigo and the little one. Ichigo promptly grabbed the others' hands and dragged them in the direction of the Golden Gai.

It was true, Kouga Kyouya didn't have the world's most interesting or well paid job, but it sometimes had its perks.

* * *

As per usual, when people split up and were investigating a crime, inevitably, it would be those who ventured to the shadiest area that ended up with the most dangerous job. This was the reason why three of the group decided to strike out into the Golden Gai, the bar and club area that was famous for shanty style buildings.

And everyone knew plying information out of drunken people was easier than sober people.

Unless said person was Tezuka. Even though no-one, barring Fuji, had seen the other drunk, they all guessed that he would be as stone faced as always.

No-one understood why, whenever someone said this, Fuji would burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Momo, Echizen and Fuji all ambled down the shanty street, looking like stereotypical tourists: pointing, snapping photos of random things that the locals found uninteresting and being a general nuisance to all.

What the populous of Shinjuku did not realise was that all this was an elaborate farce to establish their cover story. In reality, they were all meticulously searching for any insight into the crimes. Sharp eyes and even sharper ears kept a focussed intent upon everything and everyone that passed, looking and listening.

Eventually, it paid off and Echizen heard a pair of drunken men stumbling out of one of the bars that littered the street.

"-hear about Yamamoto-san?"

"-attacked as well-"

"-targets in our own town-"

"-damn Psis-"

At this, Echizen proceeded to link the other two into his mind so that they could hear what he heard. Momo and Fuji looked like they were focussing on their surroundings, but in actual fact, all their concentration was directed inwards. Neither had any time to marvel at the newly revealed talent of Echizen's as they quickly became enthralled in a mental conversation.

'Couldn't you just lift what they know out of their heads, Ochibi?' Momo thought, and then immediately winced as he received a mental head slap, similar to a rapid onset headache.

'Now, Momo, didn't you learn that Echizen doesn't appreciate comments like that?' Fuji mentally said. 'We could just go talk to them,' he added, and an image of a very smug looking Fuji entered the combined conversation. Echizen and Fuji looked at one another and both said the same thing at the same time.

'Momo.'

'What! Why me?'

'We voted and you lost (8), so you have to go talk to them,' Echizen said, sounding very happy internally, but still had the same bored look on his face.

Sure that there was a reference there that he had obviously missed, Momo dubiously approached the two men, trying to look like any normal Joe that was on the street.

"Excuse me?" he said and almost quaked under the looks of drunken anger he was receiving. Mentally collecting his wits about him, he bravely pushed forward.

"I'm in the area for the day and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Are these psis dangerous?"

As with any person in the world, put them in a position where they obviously know something another person doesn't and they immediately start sharing. It was basic human nature; to be needed. To be valuable to another. To feel good about being needed.

Leaning in, the two drunken Darwins began to sagely share what they knew.

"Well, my friend, shady things have been happening lately. Them god forsaken psis have been attacking us law abiding, good people. Wicked unnatural people," the first one said, with the second agreeing with his words and nodding like a dashboard dog.

"They say that if you hang around The Cider Bottle (9) long enough, eventually you'll be next on those demons' list."

"Why are they doing it, do you suppose?" Momo inquired, saying word-for-word what Fuji wanted him to say.

"Dunno. Who knows what goes on in those Freak's heads. But you sir, you look like one of them."

"One of who?" Momo panicked. Had he just been found out as a psi in front of these two, obviously, prejudiced people?

"One of the people they'd go after. Apparently, they like to target tall young men especially," the second said.

"For once, makes me glad that I never got that growth spurt during puberty," the first chimed in.

Momo was hard pressed to keep a straight face when Echizen scathingly replied in his head: 'You had a growth spurt. Just the wrong way. You're not supposed to grow sideways.'

"Well thank you. I'll be sure to avoid The Cider Bottle. I don't want to be attacked by those, er, _mutants_," Momo said, trying to lace as much insincere hatred into the last word as possible. The two oh so helpful, upstanding citizens took this as their cue to leave, job well done.

Watching them stumble down the street, Echizen turned to Fuji and asked a question that he'd been wondering from the start of this encounter.

"Why are they so inebriated at eleven am?"

* * *

The Cider Bottle looked like any bar along the Golden Gai: shanty in style and somewhat dilapidated but it seemed to carry the feel of a Ye Olde Irish Pub.

Standing on the mouth of the bar's entrance, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as Fuji relayed their findings to Tezuka and Oishi, Momo and Echizen certainly appeared to be an odd pair. One as tall as the other was short, with fantastically contrasting attitudes ad postures, they attracted many stares before they finally entered the tavern.

Inside, it was obvious that someone had worked really hard to make the place a reputable looking establishment. Walls that were clean and a soothing yellow had some wonderful photographs displayed upon them, which Fuji eyed appreciatively. Polished wooden floorboards and tables were littered about the room and the bar itself was shiny and well cared for.

There were few patrons inside at this time of day, or possibly due to the known association to the attacks, so when three entered at once, eyes were drawn.

They had all agreed previously that they would try to make Momo as well seen as possible to try and catch the attackers' attentions. So it was Momo that went to the bar to order the drinks as Fuji and Echizen chose a table to sit at. Not one in the back corner, that was too obvious, but a nice looking one along the side, close to the bar so that they could potentially listen to the conversations of the bar staff.

After flirting briefly with the pretty brunette barmaid, who, according to the name badge, was called Ann, Momo returned to the table bearing gifts of three glasses of "signature" cider. Sat around the table, periodically sipping their apple based drinks, they pretended to be poring over a map and arguing in hushed voices over what location to go to next.

Keeping in character, Echizen then raised his voice to loudly proclaim to the whole bar.

"We're not going to Kabukicho! What if those attackers are there?" Fuji, for his part, looked scared but was internally very proud with their newest member's performance.

As expected, the entire bar became quiet and furtive glances were exchanged between the bar staff themselves. Ann looked over to the red-haired waiter and nodded. Said waiter quickly vanished to the back room in response to the nod.

'Well, that was fast,' Fuji said over their mental link and the other two silently agreed. When the redhead came back into the main bar area, there was another person following him. The newcomer was tall, with black hair and dark brown eyes. He was as tall as Inui but had the air of Kawamura surrounding him.

Kawamura when his psi talent wasn't active: kind, approachable and with a pleasant air surrounding him.

The newcomer approached their table in a sedate manner and asked them if they would follow him into the back room. The three did so and, on entering the smallish office space, they noted that the barmaid and the red-haired waiter were present as well.

The raven haired man decided to cut straight to the point. "My name is Tachibana Kippei, this is my sister Tachibana Ann and Kamio Akira. We hear you are interested in the recent attacks that have been plaguing the area. We suggest that you stop right now and go straight home, especially you sir," he said, directing his last statement to Momo in particular.

Fuji glanced at Echizen out of the corner of his eye and saw him give an imperceptible nod in response. The youngest of the group then began to subtly probe the three that stood before them, gracefully navigating their minds like he was reading a map. After a few moments of rummaging, he found nothing.

'They're clean Fuji,' he broadcasted to Fuji's mind. Fuji, satisfied with that answer decided that it was time to do some proper investigating.

"We're not actually tourists-" he began, but Tachibana (10) smiled and nodded knowingly.

"I knew that the moment I laid eyes on you all."

* * *

(1) It was never stated where Fudoumine was, but since they were in the district tournament against Seigaku, I am making a decision that they were in one of the Tokyo areas. I chose Shinjuku for no particular reason beyond my finger landing on that one. And this thing here says that it's a-ok for me to do it *waves a piece of paper proclaiming "ARTISTIC LICENSE"*

(2) Not stolen from anywhere in particular, but if someone does have that name, great stuff

(3) Apparently this is a big thing in Japan. They hand out tissues with advertisements on them. As a result of this, Japan uses three times the number of tissues America and England do. Fun little fact for you there, if you ever need it for a pub quiz

(4) Famous park in the Shinjuku area, it is the central park that is surrounded by skyscrapers

(5) Part of Shinjuku that is famous for its shanty style bars and clubs and well known for the artistic nature of the patrons

(6) Red Light District of Shinjuku. Apparently one of the largest in the Tokyo areas. I have nothing to confirm this postulation

(7) A museum on the outer gardens of the Meiji Shrine, it is apparently has a straight long avenue at the front of the museum that becomes golden with the falling of the leaves

(8) A cyber cookie if you can tell me what film this quote is from. By God, I love that film!

(9) Once again, a really obscure reference, but this time it's within the PoT series and if you know the Fudoumine arc, you should get it

(10) I got bored of writing Tachibana Kippei and Tachibana Ann, so from this point onwards, Tachibana refers to Kippei and Tachibana Ann shall just be Ann

And new codenames for you as well

Kai = Kawamura

Hisoka = Oishi

Still no sign of Inui's codename yet, in my head or in the story

Cyber cookies if you know why I named them this

R&R

Bumble


	7. Chapter 6

Because I love you all, a DOUBLE update for October. And for Hallowe'en as well. Happy Hallowe'en everybody! :)

I watched Prince of Tennis: Another Story this week and it made me want to write again. And the song Ichigan is so beautiful. Junko Minagawa performs it beautifully.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or it's affiliations, no matter how much I wish it.

* * *

Momo gaped at this revelation but Fuji and Echizen displayed no outwards signs of their shock. Carrying onwards as if nothing had been said, Fuji continued his tale. "We are part of the Seigaku Psi Squad. We're here investigating the recent attacks so that we may bring the culprits to justice."

It was the turn of the Fudoumine three to be astounded. _Seigaku Psi Squad_? One of the elite squads? Wow.

"We recently received a lead in the case that led to your establishment," Echizen said, taking over the line of thought. "After being in the area, I could not detect any signs of maliciousness in either the tavern or yourselves, so we can safely conclude that you had nothing to do with the recent atrocities."

Ignoring Kamio's comment of "He scanned us?" Fuji battled onwards.

"This interesting development begs the question of why your inn is being associated with these attacks. We have determined that you are not responsible for them yourselves, but perhaps, you could shed some light upon the situation."

Kamio and Tachibana exchanged looks whilst Ann began to look distinctly uncomfortable. 'Jackpot,' Momo thought and Echizen silently agreed.

"Well, the thing is-" Ann began but was quickly hushed by Kamio's hissed "Not to them!"

Fuji sighed. He had hoped they would be able to proceed with the case quickly after talking with these people. Perhaps it was time to do what he did best: manipulate and extort.

How proud his mother would be.

"We had hoped to solve this case quickly with your input," he began, "but if since you're being difficult. I'm sure you know by now that Echizen is a telepath. We could always..."

He trailed off, the threat being enough. Outwardly, Echizen was pokerfaced, but internally, Fuji was sure that he was in turmoil. It was a truly simple plan. The three in front of them couldn't know that Echizen would never do that unless faced with no alternative but they did. It was a baseless claim, but one that would work as everyone feared a telepath's powers.

Uncomfortable looking shifting brought his attention back to the Fudoumine three in front of him. He just noticed but at some point this had begun to look like an interrogation; with Momo off to his left looking distinctly menacing and Echizen on is right, bored as always, Fuji was sure they made an imposing sight on the others. The others who were lined up in a row like naughty schoolchildren.

Tachibana exchanged a look with his sister and Kamio, who nodded her head and shook his head respectively. Finally, Tachibana sighed, which caused Kamio to quickly glance over to him. Displaying his authority, Tachibana shook his head and obviously overruled Kamio's protests.

"We had hoped to deal with this on our own, but clearly, things have escalated beyond our control. We may actually need outside help by this point in time.

"As you may know-" here he nodded to Echizen, who stoically returned the look "-we are psis as well. Although probably no where near your strength. I am an elemental, specifically earth. Kamio here has super-speed and Ann is able to see people's auras. This is why we could tell that even though you made that threat, the telepath over there wouldn't actually carry it out."

'Clearly our auras aren't menacing enough. Maybe I can get Inui to help me with that when we return,' Fuji thought and was instantly met with a mental shriek from Momo and got his first ever telepath induced headache from Echizen. Outwardly, neither of their dispositions changed.

Tachibana, oblivious to the mental battle occurring between the three representatives of Seigaku, carried on. "Recently, we and a few others approached the Psi Council (1) about the psi team representing Fudoumine. People living in this area, myself included, found ourselves to be let down by our psi squad. They were arrogant and manipulative to the extent that they were taking bribes and blackmailing people."

"What did the Council recommend?" Fuji asked.

"Well, naturally, there was little evidence of this and we couldn't prove much but they agreed to monitor the squad and if anything happened, their status as a squad would be revoked and, depending on the severity of the action, they would be incarcerated.

"About three months ago, there was a girl walking back from her cram school and she was attacked. From looking at her memories, the telepath on the Council determined that it was the psi squad that attacked her on the orders of the psi coach. The coach was imprisoned and the team disbanded. Since then, Fudoumine has had no formal psi squad in place."

Ann then took over from her brother. "Around that time, these new attacks started to occur. People were being attacked in their own neighbourhoods and the results were devastating. Not many people know this but the pattern of the injuries is similar to the psi talents of the previous squad members."

Momo gaped at this. Members of a squad, who took an oath (2) to protect the people of the area they were serving actually acting against that? It was unthinkable to someone who had dedicated their life to upholding this oath.

"At some point it appeared that there was a leak somewhere in the confidential ladder of the Council proceedings. Someone let it slip that we were the ones to first approach the Council concerning matters of the previous squad's malpractice," Kamio said, sounding angry and betrayed at the thought. Silently, Momo was agreeing with him. "Since then, we have been targeted by various means. Our pub was burned inside when someone threw a bomb through our window, Ann-chan was attacked on her way home from school one day, luckily, I was close by and got her away.

"We repaired the pub with our savings and Ann-chan now walks home with one of us, so these strikes were failures in their eyes. When they began to realise that direct attacks on us wouldn't work, they began to target our patrons, viciously assaulting them when they left us to make people think that we were the ones behind the beatings. And it worked. Our business has plummeted as no-one is willing to risk being attacked just for our pub."

"And obviously you don't want to go back to the Council about this since the leak there was the reason why this all began in the first place," Echizen summarised succinctly and the Fudoumine three nodded despondently.

All was quiet for a moment as the information provided by Tachibana and the others was digested. Momo then decided it was high time for some action.

"If we know who is behind the attacks, why can't we just apprehend them and be done with it?" he said, raising what he thought to be a valid point.

"Because idiot, we have no proof. Our word against theirs is not enough for an arrest," Echizen scathingly growled. "Haven't you realised that this is the reason why nothing has been done about this yet."

Ignoring Momo's protests about how he wasn't an idiot, Fuji continued to mull over the various prospects. Curious as to what he was thinking, Echizen dipped into his surface thoughts.

And promptly retreated after seeing that he was actually thinking about what he would do to the ex-members of the Fudoumine Psi Squad. 'I didn't think people could bend that way,' he silently thought and wasn't at all comforted by Fuji's returning thought of 'They can't'.

"Anyway," Fuji said, as if he hadn't been contemplating mass torture, "we shall need to report back to the other members of our team before initiating a course of action."

And with that, he looked at Echizen, who sighed deeply. "You ask as though getting me to locate and communicate with two minds in opposite ends of the area is an easy thing," he said grumpily but sat down cross legged and closed his eyes anyway to begin the mental scrying.

"Whilst our littlest is doing that why don't we all introduce ourselves to you?" Fuji said. And expertly covered up his wince from the headache that had suddenly occurred.

"I'm Fuji, this is Momo and the grumpy head over there is Echizen," he said ignoring the rather rude gesture Echizen did.

"Ah, I've heard of you two. Fuji the tensai and Momo the power blaster. You're both rather famous within the psi circles," Tachibana praised, "but I've never heard of Echizen. Is he a new member?"

"Why yes!" Fuji said, positively delighted, "We picked him up about a week ago."

"I'm not a stray, Fuji-sempai," Echizen said with his eyes still closed, "and be quiet. It's hard to concentrate."

Silence followed, with no-one wanting or daring to interrupt the telepath's work. Finally after about ten minutes, Echizen proclaimed that he had found them.

A look of concentration glanced over his features and his fingers twitched like he was grappling with invisible threads (3). A strange sensation came over Fuji in a wave and looking around the other occupants of the room, they experienced it as well. It felt like he was about to faint; that strangely disassociated feeling linked with swimming consciousness. Instinct told him that this was all Echizen's doing, but what he was doing and why he was doing it, Fuji had no idea. When it got to the point where he actually felt slightly existential, it suddenly all went away, like someone had taken it upon themselves.

Gazing around the room, he could see that everyone else's dizziness had disappeared as well, although Momo still looked slightly nauseous.

'Never want to experience that again. Don't let me go through that again.'

This thought kept circulating itself around Fuji's head, but he was sure it wasn't his. Intuition told him that it was Momo's current thought. Suddenly, everything went blank and Fuji couldn't see anything anymore. Feeling slightly scared for the first time in a long while, Fuji tried to process this sudden lack of visual stimulation. As quickly as everything had disappeared, light and sight returned in a flash.

He was standing in a room similar to those he had seen in his textbooks of Ancient Greek senates. Large white pillars surrounded the area that he was standing in and marble tiles covered the floor. The roof was the same stark white colour and there were no chairs or tables to distract from the minimalistic and simple beauty of the area.

'Momo?' Fuji tentatively probed and got a mental image of Momo, Tachibana, Ann and Kamio in his head. Mental Momo turned around and looked at Fuji. 'Fuji? What's going on? Where are we?'

Truthfully, Fuji didn't know the answers to any of the questions, but was saved from answering when the other members of the Seigaku squad appeared. Eiji looked like he had just taken a trip through the washing machine and was clutching desperately to Oishi's arm, quite probably a reflection of what was happening in their real bodies. Fuji had at least worked that much out; these were merely mental representations of their bodies and not their real ones.

Tezuka was as stoic as always and Taka looked slightly shocked but didn't have the almost catatonic look that Kaidoh was sporting. Inui had already approached one of the pillars and was examining it intently.

'Tezuka, why are you here?' Eiji said, looking around at the others for the first time.

'I'm not sure, but approximately five minutes ago, Inui, Kaidoh and I were struck with an urge to go and sit down on one of the benches. Then this happened.'

'That's similar to what happened to us,' Oishi said, 'we were looking around and then we all suddenly sat down under a tree and everything went black.'

By this point in time, Eiji's thoughts were racing and were clearly being broadcasted to the other occupants of this strange place. They were moving so fast that Fuji just caught various snippets of half-formed ideas and questions, but one came through clearly because it was a common thought on everyone's mind.

'What is going on?'

The answer to that question and many more entered the strange place then. The little form of Echizen walked between two of the pillars that surrounded the area. No longer was he sat cross legged on the floor in the Cider Bottle, but then, Fuji had a weird feeling that he still was.

'Everyone here? Good, good. I thought for a moment that I'd failed to link everyone in,' he said as he approached Tezuka. 'For those that don't know, this is a mental forum. I think we covered it all earlier and I'm sure Tachibana and the rest know about it since a lot of Council proceedings take place in forums.

'Tachibana, his sister Ann and Kamio have some information that they would like to share with us all about the attacks,' and with his piece said, Echizen faded to the background to maintain the forum whilst Tachibana reiterated to the others what they knew.

Still slightly in awe of the mental prowess their youngest possessed, the other members of Seigaku Psi Squad got down to business.

'Those horrible people!' Eiji said, 'making a mockery of our oath like that! When I find them...' he didn't continue the thought, but the forum revealed that all other team members were thinking the same things, even Tezuka.

'I agree with you Eiji,' Oishi said looking worried, 'but getting angry isn't going to solve anything. The first thing we need to do is apprehend the culprits and then we can work on who is behind all of these events.'

Tachibana, who had previously been rather reticent to divulge the information, spoke up at this point. 'I think we should handle that on our own. This is our problem and we as psis and as people, wouldn't feel comfortable dragging you all in to this. I personally don't think I would be able to forgive myself if something happened to any of you.'

'Well Tachibana, you'll just have to deal with it,' Momo said in his delightfully tactful way. The others all nodded in the background, agreeing with Momo's sentiments.

'We never asked for your help!' Kamio exploded.

'No one asks for our help,' Taka said wisely, 'but it is freely given all the same.'

'We've accepted what may happen,' Eiji piped in, sounding uncharacteristically serious. 'We are aware of the dangers of being a squad, but we have agreed and offered all the same. Wouldn't it be better to work with us rather than us interupting each other's plans?'

Everyone present gaped, even Echizen. Eiji looked around at the shocked faces. 'What?'

'Nothing Eiji, it just wasn't expected that's all,' Taka said, determined to keep the peace.

Knowing his protests would no longer keep Seigaku from interfering, Tachibana sighed and signalled his acquiescence. 'Alright, we'll work together. Does anyone have any ideas?'

All fell silent but Echizen chose that moment to make his move. Having been silent for the rest of the conversation, it was a shock when he spoke out almost eagerly. 'I have one. It's rather simple, so even Momo can follow it.'

Ignoring Momo's shout of 'hey!' in the background, he proceeded to tell the others his plan.

* * *

And we'll stop there for now. :)

(1) Psi Council: Kind of a council of elders made up of prominent figures in various areas of psi ability i.e. a telepath, an elemental, a precognitive etc. If there is a problem with some psis that a coach cannot deal with, they can approach the council for help and advice. They have the power to disband teams, replace members, restrict actions and incarcerate psis. Hopefully I made them the same as a regulating body like the GMC, Trading Standards, Fitness to Practice Committee etc. They know of your existence but don't really take any notice of you unless you do something wrong.

(2) I'm making this up but when you become a member of a squad, you have to take an oath that you will protect the people etc. Like when you become a police officer or the Hippocratic Oath of the medical world (although now it's the "revised" oath of the Geneva Convention).

(3) I had a sudden image of Kazuki off of Get Backers at that line. Did anyone else?

Sorry guys who have already read this chapter, but I forgot to include my crib sheet:

Tezuka: codename = Akuzet; power = can make barriers

Oishi: codename = Hisoka; power = emapthy

Fuji: codename = Mutsu; power = can control skin receptors

Eiji: condename = Manx; power = duplication

Kawamura: codename = Kai; power = fire elemental

Inui: codename = have to keep reading :); power = nullifier

Kaidoh: codename = Mamushi; power = create and control animals

Momo: codename = Ichigo; power = spirit blasts

Ryoma: codename = Hunin; power = telepathy, telekinesis and precognition

Tachibana: codename = unknown; power = earth elemental

Kamio: codename = unknown; power = super-speed

Ann: codename = unknown; power = reading auras

**AN:** A quick apology. I am very sorry to everyone who reviewed chapters 4 and 5. I failed to respond to your reviews and I am very sorry for that. I feel that it was rude and terribly inconsiderate of me. You all took the time to review my story and I failed to respond to that. So, a sincere apology to: Youkai Kisaki, kukumalu01, Mirsama, PheonixShadow, Scarlette Shizuru, Viridian, Ritsuka119, arialee and Khelc-suc Renai. I am very sorry. :'(

And on a lighter note: as always, R&R

Bumble :)


	8. Chapter 7

Hi guys. Uberly sorry for the long delay, it's amazing how life gets away from you sometimes. Well, it's the gripping conclusion of the Fudoumine arc and you don't know how tempted I was to leave it on a cliff hanger.

But I decided I'd tortured you enough already. To make amends, this chapter is **3 times** as long as my usual ones.

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its affiliations.

Enjoy :)

* * *

As Echizen said, his plan really was very simple. Absurdly simple in fact. Since they knew where the culprits targeted and who they liked to attack, it was ridiculously easy to come up with the idea that the three of their group who went to the bar the first time would all go to it again and have a few drinks.

'Isn't that a little simple? Won't they suspect something like that?' Kamio questioned and Echizen responded in defence of his plan.

'It's because it's simple that it'll work. Think of it this way. They do not know that we are psis. They do not know that we have spoken with you with the intention of aiding you in your endeavour. They do not know that Fuji-sempai, Momo-sempai and I know they are the criminals. From our perspective it is a ludicrously simple plan but we know things they do not.'

Tezuka and Tachibana were nodding sagely in the background, liking such a simple plan.

'Of course, we do not intend to throw them into your pub with no support whatsoever,' Oishi said, as always, worrying about another's safety. 'They may find it suspicious if three tall, young men all walk into the bar together which is why only Momo is going out of our three tall people. We'll be in groups again and we will have someone stationed outside in one of the other bars for any looky-loos.'

Here he turned to Tezuka. 'Would you mind doing this Tezuka? I'm afraid that you are the only one who looks-' here he broke off and seemed to be visibly looking for the right word'-_mature_ enough to be in a bar by themselves (1).'

Eiji, Momo and Fuji all muffled sniggers. Tezuka silenced them with a glare but curtly nodded in Oishi's direction.

Oishi, having finalised that part, went on to explain the rest. 'Ok guys, here is how it will run...'

* * *

The Cider Bottle was uncharacteristically busy that night. The three figures sat in the corner of the room nursing their ciders were casually looking around the pub to try and seem less menacing.

"I wonder whether we can wipe that smile from her face tonight," one of them hissed, looking over to the barmaid Ann. Unconsciously, he began to twitch his fingers like he was attempting to strangle the air.

The other, who looked more leader-like than his companions, scolded him. "Stop that! Someone might see. And for God's sake, keep your voice down."

He was about to retort when the door to the pub opened and three strangers walked in. One was a smiling brunette, who was holding the door open for a little black haired boy. They were followed by a tall, dark haired person. All three were holding cameras and maps.

The three sat in the shadowy corner all turned to one another and thought 'Jackpot!'

Since they were looking at one another, they missed the little black haired boy glancing at the other two and nodding almost imperceptibly. They also missed his eyes glazing over slightly as though he was daydreaming.

They began to stare more intently at the three newcomers, turning away only when the red-haired waiter approached their table. "Can I get you anything else?" he asked.

They were very glad at this point that no-one in Fudoumine actually knew what they looked like.

"No thank you, but we'll let you know if we do," the leader one said, smiling charmingly at the waiter. They all waited until he had turned around and was approaching the bar again to sigh a breath (2) of relief.

"Next time, we order one," the one that'd been quiet until now said. "The people around are starting to get suspicious of us. Three men sitting in the corner, not drinking or talking much. The three tourists that came in are feeling scared of us. We wouldn't want them to run away before the grand finale now would we?"

All three smirked at the thought of their final act. They knew their attacks couldn't go on for much longer and still maintain the level of anonymity that they have, so this was to be their last and most spectacular one yet. No-one knew what was coming apart from them.

And apart from the little black haired boy who was sulkily drinking his juice.

* * *

The three in the corner stopped conversing and sat quietly, surveying their potential targets. The tourists were spread around their table, which was covered in maps and guides. They were all talking quietly and sipping on their drinks, cider for the elder two and, what appeared to be, juice for the younger. The Fudoumine natives looked at them for a little longer and began whispering with smiles on their faces.

To the casual observer, it was rather creepy.

To the three posing as tourists, it was perfect. They were close, so close, to getting these evil people who were a disgrace to all those who called themselves psis. They could almost taste their success.

'Yudan sezu ni ikou (3),' was the thought that was sent across their mental link. Obviously, Fearless Leader™ was concerned about their eagerness. It was a great way to calm them down though and remind themselves that they hadn't won yet.

'Stick to the plan everyone, and we'll get them for sure,' Oishi helpfully piped up. They could almost see him and Eiji nodding as he said it, hidden in their positions.

Fuji thought that it was a curious thing, this mind link. Echizen had gathered them all together at the end of their mental forum and looked to be indecisive about something. When he told them that there was a way he could link them all together so that they could communicate silently, they had all agreed.

They were all thankful, as silence was imperative on this mission considering their proximity to their targets.

Momo said it was weird, but left it was that.

A slight brush of Echizen's hand against his arm alerted his mind back to the pseudo-discussion about hotels they were having. Clearly, the experience telepath must have felt his mind wandering and saw fit to ground him. Smiling slightly in thanks, he chipped in his piece about hotel preference and went back to quietly surveying the people in the corner.

A menacing trio, to the untrained eye, they were hunched over, having whispered conversations and discussing, rather loudly in his opinion, their next course of action. Fuji's eyes were not untrained though, and he saw the strength of their grips, their increased breathing rates and, of course, how their eyes darted suspiciously between themselves and the door.

'Is there any way you can pick up their surface thoughts without breaching your moral code? We need to know how many of them there are,' he thought to Echizen who immediately scowled ('that's a pout,' Fuji thought) but seemed to gaze off into space for a short while.

'Eight,' was the ghost-like whisper that came across his and everyone else's thoughts.

'Four are outside, in two pairs. One pair is north-northwest, approximately 20 metres from the pub, next to the club "Blacks" and the other pair is 27 metres east, in front of a place called "Pink". The leader is in an unknown location, even to them. The other three are in here.'

Wow. That was a lot of information to pull out of a surface scan. But then, Echizen was probably very skilled and experienced in this sort of thing.

'What do you mean "experienced" in "reading surface thoughts"?' Echizen's positively glacial voice breathed across the link.

Fuji could almost see everyone else's winces.

'So there are downsides to completely silent communication,' he thought, 'no privacy. What I meant was that you are reluctant to probe deeper into someone's psyche so you probably became skilled at getting information from just brushing someone's mind.'

There. That sounded reasonable.

Unfortunately, he forgot that Echizen was a sixteen year old boy and as such, wasn't capable of reason most of the time. A severe mental headache followed.

Tezuka decided that enough tomfoolery had happened and it was time to complete the mission. Probably tired, but no-one thought it or said it. They were quite, rightly, scared of that legendary stoic face.

'Ok, Mutsu, leave the pub and go find Kai and take care of the pair at "Pink",' Kawamura then interrupted the thought process by displaying his location to Fuji, 'Hisoka and Manx, you two deal with the pair by "Blacks". Go now,' he commanded and like a set of obedient troops, Oishi and Eiji were already heading over to their targets. Fuji excused himself from the pair in the pub with an excuse of needing to make a call. Thankfully, none of the targets inside the bar followed, assuming he would come back.

They didn't know that he had already found his partner and was steadily heading towards their backup.

'Vortex (5), would you go to the Psi Council and report to them that we are about to bring in the suspects of the Fudoumine inquiry. Then, go to the Cider Bottle and protect those there. We don't want to leave anything to chance.' Although unseen, Momo was sure Inui's glasses flashed then and that he chuckled evilly. 'Ichigo, you and Hunin leave soon, give it at least ten minutes, and make sure the targets are following. Lead them towards where Mamushi is stationed and confront them there. I'll will be along to provide backup if necessary. This is a detainment assignment everyone, so detain only. Yudan sezu ni ikou.'

And with that, the Hunters became the Hunted.

* * *

The three menacing figures in the corner looked on carefully as the brunette left the bar, saying he was going to take a phone call. Since it wasn't the taller one, they ignored it, knowing he would return soon. They themselves had just made a quiet phone call to their colleagues stationed nearby, to warn them that they would be coming with a target. Considering the past incidents, it was Captain's turn to educate this one on the superiority of psis.

The one in the middle put away his phone after receiving the response message from the others. Looking to his left as he was nudged, he saw that their targets were standing up to leave. Silently, he wondered on the absence of the other one, but thought little of it. Maybe they were meeting up with him at the hotel.

They waited for the targets to leave the pub, drained their glasses and proceeded to follow at a sedated pace. They exited the pub, giving a malicious smile to the pretty red-haired barmaid and plunged into the night.

Said pretty red-haired barmaid smirked right back at them and high fived the waiter.

Following the two, he retrieved his phone again to relay that they were on the move. They weren't so much as following them, but herding them towards a good attack location, where they would meet the captain and rough up the tall one. Maybe the small one too.

Sheparding them towards their chosen spot in the dark was difficult and thankless but they couldn't afford to be public yet. Doing it in such a way that the targets didn't know they were being herded was nigh impossible, however, eventually they managed to navigate them through the maze of winding alleys to a circular stone courtyard that had only two entrances: the one they had come through and the one their captain was currently standing in.

They didn't notice that there was another person lurking in the shadows, lured here when Echizen sent him a message that they were being led off course.

The two little sheep looked around in confusion at the ambush. Silently, they looked around for any avenue of escape, but there were none.

"Could you tell me why you are stopping our journey home?" Momo said, looking perfectly like a confused tourist. Although it killed Echizen inside, he acknowledged his skill and he himself pretended to hide slightly behind Momo, putting him in direct line of sight of the Captain.

"Now, now, we mean no harm," he said, trying to sound disarming but the demonic smirk on his face as he uttered those words completely, "well, not to the little one anyway."

To cover up the fact that Echizen visibly bristled at the "little" comment, he turned them both around to face the Captain, their backs to the other three.

"What do you mean? What are you going to do to me then?" he said, acting scared.

"Surely you know of the current climate of Fudoumine, and about the attacks…" the Captain trailed off expectantly.

Suddenly, one of the three behind them piped up, "Yeah, it's us, so get ready to lose your bone structure and blood volume!"

Smirking to one another, Echizen and Momo began to laugh. "Did you get that," Echizen said, seemingly to nothing. The four would be attackers turned to where he was looking and saw a figure jump off the wall, holding a camera in his hands.

"Fshuu, yes," the newcomer said in a hissing grumble.

"Then I hereby arrest you for Grievous Bodily Harm, Assault with a deadly weapon, Attempted assault of a police agent, Misuse of Psi Talent and for pissing me off," Momo said quite happily, showing his badge as he reeled off the charges.

The Fudoumine four, looked at one another and the Captain declared, "You'll never take us alive. It's four one three, we have the advantage."

"I don't think so," a new voice chimed in and Tezuka stepped into view. Waving his hand mechanically, there was a brief flash of light as he created a barrier to surround the courtyard, impenetrable to all but him. "Please control yourselves and wait calmly for the authorities to arrive. Any form of resistance you give would be illogical (5)."

Furiously, they looked around for means of escape. Finding none, they nodded to one another and fell into stances that suggested they were going to escape or go down trying. The Captain pulled out a garrotting wire and the three henchmen revealed they were carrying a knife, a ball of metal and a plant.

'Wha-?' Momo began to think but wasn't given any more time because then, they attacked in unison.

* * *

Silently and on swift feet, Oishi and Eiji practically flew to where they were assigned to be. Approaching the club "Blacks", they quietly blended into the background and tried to identify the two suspects they were looking for. They exchanged a glance when they failed to see any suspicious looking people directly outside of the club.

"What if they have moved on?" Eiji whispered. "We can't ask Ochibi to search for them. He's busy."

"Don't worry Manx. We can find them. We know they are planning something malicious so in all likelihood, they are going to be experiencing feelings of cruelty, anger and possibly a little fear. If I scan for these feelings, we can find them wherever they have gone."

"Brilliant idea Hisoka!" Eiji crowed. Oishi smiled and nodded benignly, and closed his eyes. Mentally preparing himself for the influx of emotions that would occur when he lowered his shields. Taking comfort in the simple emotions Eiji was projecting to give him some modicum of protection, he opened his mind to the world around him.

Immediately, he was assaulted by the thrumming emotions of the club behind them. Love, lust, exhaustion, drunkenness and jealousy all rushed through him at an amazing rate. He almost lost control of himself, but a touch on his arm brought him back. Eiji was holding his hand, as through the stronger connection of touch, his emotions made the others more bearable. The wave of heated emotions from the club were washed away by the simple, calmer emotions of care, concern and love.

Shakily, Oishi released his breath and gave a smile to Eiji in thanks. With the new grounding, he was able to concentrate better and easily found the emotions he was looking for. There were two people, down the alleyway at the back of the club, who were exuding the emotions. Immediately, he brought his shields back up.

"There down there," he pointed to Eiji, who nodded and began leading the way. With eyes that could pierce further into the darkness than Oishi's, Eiji went first to give an earlier warning. They quickly found their quarry at the end of the alley, heading towards the centre of the lanes, which all met in a courtyard if Oishi's memory served him correctly.

Using the unique bond he and Eiji shared they quickly formulated a plan using hand signs and head movements. Eiji would go in first and Oishi would provide him with support when needed.

Eiji made a quick movement left and right and then, there were two, three, four of him. The other three branched away to approach the culprits from the other side. Receiving the message from his other selves in a way only he understood, Eiji relayed that the others were in position.

"On three," Oishi whispered. "1, 2, 3-"

And they burst around the corner to be in full view of the targets, showing their badges. "Freeze!" Eiji said, "You're under arrest for Grievous Bodily Harm, Assault with a deadly weapon and Misuse of Psi Talent. Please come quietly."

The two immediately turned around and began to flee in the other direction. Eiji's other selves chose that moment to leave the shadows in which they had ensconced themselves and block their escape route.

Looking between themselves, the culprits obviously both decided that fighting was the best option and suddenly, the alleyway was filled with noise, action and attacks.

* * *

After Fuji left the pub, he quickly made his way to the park where Kawamura was waiting for him. Spotting his friend in between two trees, he smiled and carried on the path he was heading. Not actually stopping, he just slowed enough for Kawamura to fall in step with him and they briskly walked to where their targets were.

Pink was a club in the eastern part of the area and was well known for catering to the younger clientele. Due to their policy for opening one gender only nights, it was popular because of its safety and relaxed atmosphere, especially so with the female patrons. Given that it was a Friday, there was a long winding queue of pretty women outside, waiting to get in.

So the presence of two, frankly creepy looking men loitering outside was obvious to the extent that they stood out a mile away and made it very easy for Fuji and Kawamura to track down their targets. Not being gifted with the unique bond that Eiji and Oishi had, they tentatively tested the mental link Echizen set up.

'Can you hear me Kawamura?' Fuji asked and received a nod in return. Smiling briefly to one another, they formulated their plan of attack. Fuji detached himself from Kawamura and approached the two skulking outside the club, much to the unvoiced relief of the young females stood outside the place.

"Excuse me. You two wouldn't so happen to know where my friend and I could find the police station, would you?" Fuji asked in an inquiring manner to the two men. The immediately exchanged glances.

"Sure," one of them said, "but why do you need to know?"

"Well, we've seen something we think is suspicious. We think it has something to do with the attacks that have been happening lately."

Again another exchange of glances but this one was different. Fuji didn't possess the same powers of empathy that Oishi did but he knew that the look was one of scared guilt.

"Well, if it is something that important, we'll walk you there ourselves," the other said, seemingly concerned and polite.

"Oh thank you. That would be wonderful. Hisoka, they said they'd take us there," Fuji called to Kawamura, who came jogging over to them. The two suspects smiled charmingly at them and began to lead the way. Fuji and Kawamura, who had studied maps of the area for their mission and who knew that this way was almost completely opposite to where the police station lay, followed cautiously.

When they were sufficiently far enough away from the civilians of the area for Kawamura to use his powers, Fuji decided enough was enough. Clearly his throat delicately, he waited for the two in front to turn and motioned for Kawamura to produce a fire that surrounded them, but caused no damage to the park around them. Once their targets had been sufficiently confused and trapped, h reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge.

"You are under arrest from the Seigaku Psi Squad for Grievous Bodily Harm, Assault with a deadly weapon and Misuse of Psi Talent. Surrender or we will take you in by force," here Fuji smiled in the most malicious way possible and purred, "and we will take you by force if necessary."

The two in the fire looked at one another and leapt towards the members of Seigaku.

Fuji looked at Kawamura and said "force it is then."

* * *

For the two facing Oishi and Eiji, the path of least resistance for them was to aim for the copies instead of the originals. So with a rush of speed, they both leapt at the clones, who looked shocked, but then fielded them admirably. Two of them stood their ground whilst the third backed off slightly and jumped into the air. When the two suspects collided with the clones, the third was falling to the ground and performed a wonderful spin kick that caught the two culprits straight in the face, one for each foot. Dazed, they fell back towards the original Eiji and Oishi, who caught them in their arms. Automatically, they tried to struggle, but couldn't stop the inevitable and the copies cuffed and put psi bracelets on them.

"Apprehended. You ok Eiji?" Oishi asked in concern.

"Fine, my feet hurt though. They must have really hard heads," he said as he became one again.

Grinning happily that they had managed to catch their suspects with no injuries, Oishi promised Eiji the bath when they got home and had to laugh when Eiji's feelings of elation spilled over his shields. Still grinning they marched their prisoners back to the authorities and mentally relayed their success to Echizen through the link.

* * *

Surrounded by fire, it certainly looked like this would be a spectacular fight. The two wrongdoers rushed at the Seigaku members with apparent rage and fury in their eyes. The one that aimed for Kawamura drew back his arm and, to the shock of Fuji and Kawamura, claws extended from his knuckles. Jumping backwards to avoid the swipe that would have sliced him in three, Kawamura glanced over to Fuji and saw that he had engaged his opponent as well.

He could afford no more lapses in attention though as his assailant came at him again, catching him slightly on his wrist. Hissing in discomfort, Kawamura started to fight back. It was a delicate thing, being a fire controller. With the correct amount of control, one could start a fire without starting a fire. By heating the air up around him to the point of just starting a fire, he could have, in effect, started a fire. The heated air was scalding around him, but Kawamura never felt the heat.

He was concentrated on heating the air on his opponent's claws. By activating the molecules on the metal, and with metal being a conductor, well, his opponent was quickly floored with burning pain in his hands.

Detaining is suspect, he looked over at Fuji to see if he could drop the fire barrier only to see Fuji sitting relaxed on the floor with his prisoner in handcuffs and sweaty in a way that wasn't due to the heat.

Kawamura immediately knew Fuji had set of the pain receptors in the man's skin to incapacitate him quickly. As soon as Fuji touched him.

Grinning manically, Fuji acknowledged Kawamura. "Done as well? Well, better get them back to the facility."

And with that, Kawamura dropped the fire barrier with no effects to the plant life around and they heaved their prisoners along whilst letting Echizen know of their success in a tauntingly neutral way only Fuji could.

* * *

The four suspects flew at their chosen opponents at a fantastic speed. However, they were too slow for Echizen.

'These four have the powers of plant manipulation, poisonous blood, metal manipulation and telekinesis. Advice is for Buchou to take on the poisonous blood as it appears to be vapours, Momo, you get the plants, Kaidoh-senpai, take the metal. He forms weapons with it and animals can get past them. I'll take the telekinetic and put a stop to his powers.'

Echizen's instructions and deductions raced across the mental link like lightning and were valid suggestions. They were the logical challengers for their targets.

'Ok. Let's do it. Incapacitate and subdue only,' Tezuka instructed and ran towards his rival, with the others following suit. The one with the knife appeared to be slightly surprised that Tezuka was rushing into the fight, but didn't back down as he brought the knife to his own wrist. Slicing deftly, Tezuka was mildly shocked to see that no blood was leaving the cut. What did leave was a purple gaseous haze, which Tezuka suspected was highly poisonous. Using the quick thinking he was famed for, he formed a barrier around the gas and his opponent's wrist to contain the poison in him.

The menace looked horrified that his poison wasn't leaving his body and cut another part of himself to leak it another way. That cut was sealed as well.

"We could do this all night, but I'd rather not," Tezuka intoned and proceeded to form a barrier around the assailant's hand that was holding the knife. He then charged the barrier to become active and the molecules of thebarrier produced energy and made the air inside it hot, hotter than a human could handle. As expected, he dropped the knife and was rendered weapon less.

Tezuka decided then that it was safe enough to approach the culprit and attached a set of standard issue handcuffs onto him and a psi bracelet to subdue his powers until he was in a secure facility. He took that opportunity to check how the rest of his team was faring.

It appeared that Momo had almost restrained his as well. Having watched with horror as the small plant in his hand expanded as though given steroids, Momo quickly quashed his feelings and sent a series of small spirit blasts at the plant. Like all other things that came into contact with the spirit blasts, the plant was quickly disintegrated into nothingness and Momo was able to speed towards the other and deliver a neat chop to his neck, thus making him lose consciousness. Whilst knocked out, he attached the various paraphernalia for psi transportation.

Exchanging a nod with Tezuka, they turned for the update from the others.

Kaidoh was faring well. His opponent could use the metal in his possession to form different weapons, however, they seemed powerless against Kaidoh's animals. If he summoned a projectile weapon, Kaidoh summoned a quick and agile animal, like an eagle. If he summoned a sword, power was what Kaidoh went for and an elephant was quickly standing in the courtyard. Whilst the perpetrator was looking up at the member of the Elephantidae family in terror, Kaidoh summoned his favourite animal, the Viper.

Slithering towards its prey, the viper quickly made use of its prehensile tail and wound its way up the culprit. Twining itself around him until he was restrained and subdued, the viper stopped so that Kaidoh could approach with the appropriate restraints.

Echizen was having a little more difficulty with his opponent. The garrotting wire was quick, thin and lethal and he had already gained more than a few cuts along his arms and neck.

"Got to be careful little boy or the wire might slip somewhere more important," the Captain crowed, taunting his much smaller opponent. "After all, someone so small can't possibly stand a chance against someone like me."

And he struck again, waving his wire around mentally causing Echizen to dodge in a flurry of flips and rolls.

"Very acrobatic boy but still not as good as me."

Echizen was quickly becoming annoyed with him. Rolling his eyes, he taunted right back.

"Do you know who my mother is?" he asked as received an amused shake of his head in return. "She is Rinko Echizen y Takeuchi. The Level nine telekinetic. And I'm going to show you what a real telekinetic's power is like," and with that, he mentally wrenched the wire from the Captain's control. He was now in control of the wire and it flailed around him like a mass of tentacles, surging with incomparable energy. The Captain backed up a few steps in fear as the wire approached him with blinding speed.

However, it never connected. As the wire came at him, the Captain threw his hands out in front of himself to try and regain control of the garrotte, only to feel a pair of handcuffs surrounding them. He glanced up to see that the little one has telekinetically put them on him, along with the psi bracelet.

"Suspects apprehended Buchou, from the others as well," Echizen said, relaying what was being broadcasted across the link.

"Good. We'll meet at the Psi Council Building. Relay that to Inui and tell him to bring the workers of the Cider Bottle with him," Tezuka said, directing the last part at Echizen in particular. Then they all grabbed their respective suspect, none too gently, and marched them to the authority building.

* * *

Contrary to the outside world, the Psi facility in Fudoumine was brightly lit and still had signs of life in it. In reception, sat on a long line of chairs were the disgraced Fudoumine Psi Squad, handcuffed and slouched like a combination of naughty children and depressed prisoners.

The Seigaku Psi Squad that apprehended them were loitering around to supervise them as the Council met up with Echizen, Fuji, Oishi and Tachibana, who were giving them a full account of what happened.

Eventually, when Eiji began to literally bounce on the spot in boredom, they were summoned into the Council room and told to bring the prisoners.

Entering the round room, they all took notice of the raised seats the Council were seated on and how they were arranged like that of a stadium.

The eldest member there, a man by the name of Inoue, rose from his seat and addressed them all.

"Firstly, we would like to thank Seigaku for their assistance in this matter. After reviewing the evidence provided and the memories of the persons involved in this series of events, we find the Fudoumine Psi Squad guilty of Grievous Bodily Harm, Assault with a deadly weapon, attempted assault of a police agent, Misuse of Psi Talent. For this, we strip them of their ranks as protectors of the Fudoumine area and will agree on an appropriate method of punishment in open council (6). Since it was the people of Fudoumine you wronged, it shall be the people of Fudoumine who will decide your fate."

Tezuka chose that moment to speak up. "Your Grace, may I just say that the apprehension of the prisoners would have been impossible without the assistance of Tachibana Kippei, Tachibana Ann and Kamio Akira, who provided us with vital information and helped us formulate an effective strategy."

"Duly noted. Once their punishment has been decided, Fudoumine will be needing a new Psi Squad and I feel that they would make excellent squad members, don't you agree," and there was a flurry of nods from the council members around him. Tachibana, clearly not expecting this, turned grateful eyes on Tezuka.

"Thank you," he mouthed and Tezuka nodded.

"We must be going now but don't hesitate to contact us again if you need anything," Tezuka said and filed out, followed by his Squad.

* * *

"Fudoumine has been captured," a voice intoned in a darkened room, mildly scared at the thought f what would happen to him as he was carrying bad news.

The figure swathed in darkness waved a negligent hand. "It was to be expected. They were careless. Have you learnt anything from them, Devil?" the gentle voice said.

A person to his left nodded and cackled manically.

"You're dismissed," he was told and he all but ran from the room, fleeing from the sound of laughter and cackles.

* * *

The train home was quiet as all members of the squad were exhausted. All had pushed themselves hard and it had paid off. Now they were ready for a long nights rest. Some had already started, like Eiji and Echizen.

Fuji turned to Tezuka halfway through the journey. "How did you think our newest member did then?"

Both eyes turned to Echizen as he slumbered on the shoulder of a petrified looking Momo.

"Good. I think he did well for a first mission."

"Funny, I was thinking he'd fit in well here. I can think of a few things he's good for," and with a sadistic smile on his face, he left the conversation to find Kawamura.

* * *

ANs:

(1) As I understand it, the legal drinking age in Japan is 21, unlike England where it is 18. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I'm going by the norm in British pubs whereby you can be in them under the legal age as long as no alcohol is ordered, thus Echizen is fine in the pub with the others. However, I once went to an amazing bar in Scotland where you could drink if you could see over the top of the bar. How fantastic!

(2) One of the things that really annoys me in fanfictions is the mistaking of breath and breathe. I know it's petty but it gets to me.

(3) Yudan sezu ni ikou – Don't let your guard down

(4) Finally have Inui's codename revealed. Any guesses why?

(5) I had just recently watched Star Trek 2009 so forgive me if it sounded like Spock. And how amazing is it that Spock is recognised by my spellchecker? And it has given me all kinds of ideas for a Xover :)

(6) Open Council is where members of the public and the council decide on a way to punish someone. Fairness and all that

As always R&R

Bumble x


	9. Chapter 8

New Month, new Chapter. Everyone cheer! Hooray. And it's 4,441 words. I really am spoiling you.

I've just got a few things to share with you before the start.

The Psi Gene:

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I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who reads this story, even if you don't review. You know who you are :)

Onwards!

* * *

It was pre dawn by the time the nine weary psis made it back to Seigaku's sakura lined streets, illuminated only by the hazy orange glow of the imminent sunrise. Most of them were looking tired and wan, with some definite fraying around the edges, shown in the frazzled hair and bruised looking eyes. Eiji's distinctive sweeping locks had even lost most of their jaunty angle so it now hung limply around his eyes. Some of them (Momo) appeared to be visibly grappling at the proverbial strings of energy in a futile attempt to gather their wits together.

Exhaustedly, they trudged towards their facility to collect the things they left there before this ordeal began and to make a start on their reports. Nary was a word spoken between the boys, and so, the encroaching silence of the dawn was maintained, despite its fragility.

Approaching the steps at the front of the facility, they looked up in trepidation at the sheer number of stairs. On a normal day, the amount wouldn't faze them in the slightest, but they were tired, psychically drained and feeling exhausted, so they seemed to treble before their very eyes.

"Do you think they would listen if we petitioned for them to install an escalator here?" Momo said, actually half-serious as he gazed at the seemingly never ending stairs. Momentarily, all their hopes were lifted as they briefly entertained the ridiculous notion, but were quickly quashed when they felt the ominous gaze in their direction.

With a healthy dose of fear, nine pairs of eyes tracked up the stairs to where the icy glare was emanating and eight of the nine pairs winced as they looked upon their less than amused looking trainer. Despite being clad in her usual frumpy pink tracksuit, she was as imposing as ever, with her hands akimbo on her hips and a heavy set frown on her face.

"If you're willing to fund it Momoshiro, then I don't see why not. Just remember, you're still paying off that equipment you broke last month," she said, with the vocal sadism level rising to almost that of Fuji's and a matching Fuji-esque grin on her face.

'Dear God, Fuji's contagious,' Echizen thought in horror.

Momoshiro, oblivious to Echizen's growing terror at his sempai's apparent infectious status, looked aghast at the prospect and looked to be concentrating very hard on something. Curious, Echizen dipped into his surface thoughts and found him calculating his pay check.

'Is that all we get?' he thought in disgust, but it was well hidden as nothing other than general apathy and wariness showed on his blank face. Ryuuzaki-sensei motioned with her head for them to follow and all, barring Tezuka, groaned. Fuji groaned as well, but, to Echizen, it sounded slightly more put on than the others. Secretly, he must be enjoying this; the sheer amount of pain the others were in.

Sadist.

Eventually, they reached the top and followed their short tempered- ahem, lovely, trainer to the briefing room where they received their assignment to begin with. All nine of them collapsed into the chairs with varying degrees of relief. Tezuka's stoic visage barely twitched whereas Eiji visibly melted and appeared to be trying to become one with the cushions.

Echizen tuned out most of the debriefing as Tezuka and Oishi gave the official reports. Occasionally, Momo would interrupt with one of his usual nuggets of wisdom but Echizen didn't care to listen or remember those.

After having them all in his head for over three hours, Echizen was revelling in the silence that was him and the lack of stupid ideas floating around in his inner sanctuary.

Eventually, Ryuuzaki-sensei released them back into the wild of the night with strict instructions to return back that afternoon to submit their reports and to rejoin classes and training. After all, three of the squad had yet to complete high school.

Like a line of weary soldiers, they marched down to the locker room to collect their things. Echizen looked around at the others as they pottered around, gathering their things so that they could go home and sleep for as long as possible. Oishi quietly murmured that he might grab a shower and a wilting Eiji was keen to latch onto the idea. They opened their lockers simultaneously to rummage around for their towels and toiletries. Eiji pulled out a bottle of shampoo and, without even looking at it, handed it to Oishi in exchange for a bottle of shower gel. Echizen personally thought it was slightly creepy, but then, there were creepier things on this squad. Like Kaidoh. Or Fuji. Fuji was definitely scarier than the others.

Speaking of Fuji, Echizen let his gaze slide to the left to look at him checking his mail. With his eyes open. Dipping ever so carefully into his surface thoughts, Echizen plucked out that it was from someone called "Yuuta" about a "Mizuki". The things Fuji was thinking...

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, Echizen made no comment. Best left unsaid as they were likely to make a lesser man faint. Echizen decided to show them to Momo the next time he annoyed him.

Continuing his observations, he saw Inui updating something in his infernal book and Kaidoh was reapplying his bandanna. Kawamura was smiling softly as he changed and Momo appeared to be gazing into his locker as though it held the answers to all the important questions. Life, existence and the ingredients of secret sauce.

Finally, he looked towards Tezuka, not even bothering to disguise his gaze. He had collected everything and was ready to leave but had paused at the door. He cleared his throat and immediately, all activity ceased and all eyes snapped to attention where tired bodies could not.

Such good little minions.

"Well done everybody. Wonderful teamwork today," Tezuka announced with a ghost of a smile gracing his features. At that, everyone in the room stood a little taller, with pride gleaming in their eyes. Here Tezuka turned to Echizen. "Thank you Echizen. You were integral to the success of this arrest. You were an asset to the team."

Praise from Tezuka, Echizen had heard, was as rare as a hen with teeth, so he wasn't surprised when the others looked at him approvingly. He was surprised, however, at the swell inside him. The happy, bubbly feeling those words produced.

"Go home, rest and I shall see you back here this afternoon," and with that, Tezuka was off.

With happy smiles, the rest finished up their business and went about their separate activities, preparing to leave. Eventually, they all began to file out but by this time, Echizen had turned to his own locker to grab his things. A hand tapping his shoulder made him turn.

Kawamura was stood behind him, a kind smile on his face. "It probably doesn't mean much but thank you Echizen. You certainly made today easier." And with a pat on the shoulder, he left with Kaidoh following, hissing a nod in Echizen's direction.

Eiji and Oishi gave him a thumbs up each and disappeared into the shower blocks. Momo turned to him and offered him a ride home on the back of his bicycle. Nodding, Echizen agreed and they both left the locker room. Reaching Momo's bike, Echizen perched himself on the back bars, hands on Momo's shoulders for support. They set off at a moderate pace and Echizen relished the lack of walking and the feeling of the cool wind dancing with his hair. They rode in amiable silence, comfortable despite their earlier differences and bickering. Eventually they reached the wooden slatted fence that surrounded the garden and proudly displaying the Echizen name. Disembarking from the bicycle, he waved nonchalantly to Momo and walked up to house.

He was at the garden gate when Momo called out to him. "Do you want me to pick you up this afternoon?" he asked and Echizen, slightly taken aback, nodded dumbly. "Ok. See you then."

Momo seemed to wait until Echizen had turned around again. "Oh and Echizen?" here he broke into a smile, "Welcome to the team."

And then he cycled off, grinning inanely.

Echizen stared blankly at the gate where Momo had been. Gradually he smiled, shut the gate and entered the house. 'Team mates,' he thought as Karupin greeted him at the door. Picking him up, he grinned into his fur as he walked up to his room. Giving a distracted "tadaima" to his still awake mother, he closed the door.

Collapsing back onto his bed, he sighed happily. 'Team mates. I like the sound of that.'

* * *

Seigaku Psi Facility looked like a giant knife piercing the landscape. It was a cold looking building, made of glass and steel that penetrated the surrounding sakura much akin to a sword being thrust into the ground. However, it had its inviting charm. It wasn't as dominating as the Hyoutei facility nor was it completely isolated through fences like the Rikkai. It had a large number of steps at the front that were punctuated every so often with planters containing trees and the fact that the front doors were revolving held a sense of openness.

It was two in the afternoon and the reception area of the facility was bustling. Many young people in casual clothes were dotted about the large foyer, some glancing apprehensively at the large clock on the wall behind the reception desk. These were the students of the facility, rushing to their next class.

All Seigaku students had to attend classes unless they were excused because of an assignment, in order to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to work well in the world. Even if they decided to venture along a different path to become a lawyer or a doctor, they still learnt here, to ground their powers.

Given that it was a Tuesday, classes were in full swing and there was an air of excitement around the school. Word had gotten around that the squad had returned after a successful mission and everyone was curious as to the specifics of the assignment.

And how the newest member of the team fared.

Arai was a second year at the facility, the same age as Momoshiro. Even though he was amazingly talented with his unique ability to make anyone freeze when he stood on their shadow, he wasn't chosen to be one of the squad. The reasoning Ryuuzaki-sensei gave him was that her squad only had eight members, and he wasn't strong enough to displace one of those eight.

But then the new member arrived. This Echizen Ryoma. A year younger than him, they actually increased their numbers to make room for him on the squad. It was outrageous! He was an established member of Seigaku and his talent was wonderfully unique. What did this boy have that he didn't?

Arai was determined to get answers.

* * *

Ryoma was bored. He was sat in the middle of an English class, learning about a language he'd used his whole life whilst operating on about four hours sleep and an English breakfast.

Needless to say, he was not impressed and decided to express this through napping on his desk during the lesson, to the exasperation of his teacher.

His teacher, a middle aged man with a beard and an eye for slackers, approached the desk of his newest student. Granted his entrance examination scores were impressive but none slept in his class.

"Echizen!" he barked and, like all other students, the pupil in question jumped in his seat. "Answer the question on the board."

He watched as the messy black-haired boy yawned disinterestedly behind his hand and approached the board with a slouching, shuffling gait. Smugly, he watched his progress, knowing that the question on the board was an "example" question of what he hoped the student's would be able to read by the end of the year.

And then, his smirk dripped off his face like wet paint. His student had just answered the question, fully and logically and had even included a diagram. He, like the rest of the class, looked on amazedly as the boy turned around and asked, in perfect English, "Is that everything, sensei?"

"S-sure," he answered, still not quite sure what had happened. He let him return to his desk and disbelievingly watched as he sat down and fell back to sleep.

And the teacher didn't disturb him for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

When break time rolled around, it was about four in the afternoon. It was at this time that all classes ended and the extra credit sessions began. It was a way for the psis to try career pathways or earn points that would help them in future. They ranged from debating societies and first aid for those interested in law and medicine, to drama and music for the more artistically inclined.

Of course, one of the more popular clubs was the squad club. People joined this club in the hopes of becoming part of the Seigaku Psi Squad or any law enforcement agency in future. A select few already made up the squad and passed on combat skills, interrogation techniques and undercover abilities to the younger years. They trained them in the basics to help them get a grounding in the practice and teamwork involved in being part of a squad.

Seigaku's squad was made of nine members and as such, was one larger than the norm. The newest member had never been seen in action by any other people than the members, so his powers were a complete mystery. Even his appearance was shrouded in mysticism to most.

Which is why a fuming Arai approached Echizen himself to ask him who he was.

"Do you know who Echizen Ryoma is?" he asked and Echizen looked on slightly confused. When one of the people he recognised from his class became rather vocal about his abilities, his eyes involuntarily slid over to look at him. Unfortunately, Arai followed this eye movement.

"Huh, you can tell. Not in uniform and being so loud for a freshman," Arai muttered and began to approach the green shirted ginger haired boy.

Echizen boredly looked over at the wall wondering if his brain could melt from sheer apathy. He glanced over to Horio to see that he was struggling with Arai, who had a grip on his shirt and was loudly proclaiming something about usurped positions.

"But I'm not Echizen!" Horio squealed. "He is!" And then he pointed in Echizen's direction. Arai looked over in anger and dropped Horio to the floor. Stalking over to Echizen, he seemed to be apoplectic with rage.

"I suppose you think that was funny? I'll teach you to make me look like an idiot!"

He then approached Echizen with his hand outstretched. "You might be one the squad but when they see how much more pathetic your power is compared to mine! I'm a level 7 and I can control your shadow!"

And he raced towards Echizen. Confident in his abilities, he had no defences up, so it was a surprise to him when Echizen dodged around his frontal charge and tripped him up from behind. When Arai was sprawled on the floor, Echizen began to speak.

"Heh, a level 7 huh? Well, that's only three below me. And a shadow controller? Never met one of those before. But with my powers, I won't need to meet one again."

All those who were watching the fight fell silent and Arai, who was still reeling from the shock of finding out Echizen was a level ten, tentatively asked why.

"Because I am a telepath. A controlling telepath." And then he walked away in a sea of silence.

Echizen didn't stop around to see the fall out, he wandered off in hopes of finding Momo or one of the other members. Maybe they'd spar with him. Rounding the corner between the lockers and the indoor gym, he found Momo loitering in the corridor looking distractedly at his phone.

Smirking gleefully, Echizen silently approached him from behind and whispered into his mind. 'Something worrying you Momo-sempai?' and then mentally cackled at the resulting leap Momo made. Someone could have mistaken his power for flight with that jump.

"Echizen! No, nothing's wrong! Everything's perfect!" he fretfully stated, glancing nervously left and right to see if anyone had seen his fear.

"Hmmm. If you insist. But I have to say, Tachibana Ann will be wanted an answer soon." And with that, he sauntered away whilst listening to Momo's pounding footsteps behind him.

By the time he and Momo reached the gym, the others had all begun practising. The freshmen were improving their basic stances for combat under the watchful eye of Ryuuzaki-sensei, despite the green shirted boy –Horio- loudly shouting his two years combat experience.

The second and third years were sparring with one another, trying to pin their opponent six times to win the match. The members of the squad were off to one side, getting briefed by Tezuka about today's activities. Echizen and Momo wandered over and stood with the others.

"Right everyone. Last night was well conducted. I hope you've all submitted your reports-" here Momo and Eiji looked a little sheepish, "-I've got some feedback on last night's performances. Echizen certainly helped with the communication issue, so we should work on developing that link at some point. Not today though. Everyone needs a power rest after last night. One thing I did notice was that our fights lacked integration. Perhaps we need to work on fighting in pairs."

Here Inui took over. "I know Eiji and Oishi have a great deal of experience in this area, as do Taka and Fuji so we can pair up and try co-ordinating moves. Echizen and Momo, you two pair up and take on the Eiji-Oishi pair and Kaidoh and I shall pair with the Taka-Fuji pair. Tezuka, if you would like to observe and then swap in later."

Tezuka nodded and the respective foursomes wandered off to different areas to begin. Eiji literally dragged Echizen to their area, tugging impatiently on his arm. Echizen just sighed and went along with it.

Once they'd reached their assigned corner, Echizen and Momo turned to face off against the other two. Without a moment's notice, Eiji and Oishi began their assault; Eiji focussing on the frontal attacks and Oishi providing back support when needed.

Momo and Echizen floundered for quite some time, not knowing how to effectively defend against the attacks. Eiji and Oishi decided to change their attack pattern then, honing their attention solely on Momo.

Echizen merged slightly to the side just to watch the flustered look on Momo's face for a little while.

"Little help here!" he called uneasily, narrowly dodging a high kick from Eiji and then immediately spinning around to catch a punch from Oishi. "Echizen!"

"Fine, fine," Echizen sighed and then ran at Eiji's back. Eijinoticed just in time and turned to leap out of the way in an impressive display of acrobatic skill. Flipping over and over until he deemed himself far enough away to avoid attack, Eiji righted himself only to notice that Echizen hadn't pursued him. Confused, he looked around and found that in his efforts to get away from Ochibi, he'd been separated from Oishi.

"That's not how it's supposed to work Ochibi!" he cried and desperately tried to get back to his partner. Except Echizen wouldn't let him.

"Sorry. I thought I'd make it a bit more even. Momo and I have known each other for less than a week and you expect us to fight like a team? I don't think so. We'll just fight you one on one until we trust each other well enough," Echizen said and then began to attack Eiji.

Just at that moment, Ryuuzaki-sensei decided to speak up.

"Everyone, gather around," and like a platoon of soldiers, they fell in line obediently in front of their commander.

"Good work today. As you know, the members went on a mission yesterday so they are rather tired today, so I'm cutting this session short today. Also, for those that don't know, we have a new member. Echizen Ryoma, 16, is our newest member. He's the world's only level ten and he's telepathic, telekinetic and precognitive."

Excited murmurs exploded amongst the people gathered like a sudden gust of wind through the trees. And then Ryuuzaki-sensei dismissed them all for the day, with instructions to be back for tomorrow morning's pre-school lessons.

All the members went to the locker room to change and shower and when they had become more pleasing to the olfactory sense, they began to leave. Once they reached the front of the facility's gates, Echizen veered to the left to go home when he was halted by a hand on his arm. He looked up to see Momo grasping his upper arm and the rest of the members loitering behind him. Echizen raised an eyebrow in query at Momo, who dropped his arm and looked at the floor rather sheepishly.

"After a successful mission, we all go to Kawamura-sempai's place to eat sushi. Since you're a member of the team now, we were wondering if you wanted to come," and with that he looked up expectantly.

Nodding slightly, Echizen agreed and they began to all meander to Kawamura Sushi. Along the way, Momo had somehow gotten engrossed in a conversation with Eiji about what sounded to be the benefits of burgers whilst pushing his bike, so Echizen was left to trudge alone behind the group.

That is until Fuji sidled up to him like a fox. "So, Echizen. How did you sleep last night?" he asked. Echizen looked over at him in thinly veiled apprehension.

"Fine," and since it was the standard answer, the next part just flowed out of his mouth. "And you?"

Fuji's grin grew, if possible, "Oh just great. It would have been better had I had something to hold, but then, Yuuta wasn't there last night."

Echizen had an inexplicable feeling of sympathy for Yuuta and a few miles away at St Rudolph's facility, Yuuta sneezed.

"But then again, you'd be quite fun to hold Echizen."

He was sure at that moment he actually blanched to the extent he could be confused with a ghost and shuddered like someone walked over his grave. He looked over at Fuji in aghast horror and he received a smug smile in return. He then decided it would be advisable to speed up his pace and then planted himself in between Eiji and Momo.

If he had to decide between being pulled into an argument about burgers and molested by Eiji or being taunted about the possibility of being molested by Fuji, he'd choose the Momo-Eiji pair any day.

At least he knew Eiji's molesting was more to do with his tendency to glomp cute things (despite his maintenance that he wasn't cute). Fuji's was just creepy.

When they reached Kawamura Sushi, Echizen was more than ready to eat and run away as fast as he could. He obediently removed his shoes by the door and bowed to Kawamura senior. He knelt by a table and Momoswiftly took the seat next to him, thankfully. Unfortunately, Fuji took the seat opposite and gave Echizen a smile.

It didn't make Echizen feel at ease. It made him feel like a chicken.

When their sushi arrived, he was truly impressed with the spread. The array of colours and fish was astounding and Echizen looked on appreciatively. Giving the traditional thanks for food, he picked up a piece and chewed it with relish. Looking around, he saw that everyone else was partaking as well, but when he looked over at Fuji, he noticed that before Fuji was a tray of maki rolls filled with a bright green paste.

Wasabi.

That just cemented Echizen's opinion of Fuji that he was certifiably insane.

By the end of the evening, everyone was full and happy and said their goodbyes. With plans to see each other again tomorrow for practice, they went their different ways with Echizen, once again, perched on the back of Momo's bike.

* * *

Ok, that's the end of the "regrouping" chapter.

We will probably get the next mission in the next chapter.

As usual, R&R

Bumble x


	10. Chapter 9

Back again! With another chapter. And it hasn't been about three months since the last one! Wow!

A quick note to Scarlette Shizuru: I did get your review, thank you. I tried to reply, but for some reason, it was telling me I already had! So I'll answer it here. Thank you for reviewing. I like Arai too. I think his comic relief is a much neglected aspect of the show and some stories. It's nice to have a different POV sometimes. I get bored trolling around in the usual people's minds so it's nice to have a bit of a change to mix things up. Hope you keep R&Ring. Bumble x

ANs are at the bottom, as per usual. I was slightly tired when writing this, so if you could point out any spelling errors, I would be grateful. It all passed through the spellcheck ok, but I know how dodgy they can be sometimes. I also know this is no excuse for poor spelling and grammar, but all the words are merging into a long squiggly line at this point.

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of it! Why do you keep asking?

* * *

"Is it wrong to wish for a national crisis?" Momo asked one morning when they were cycling to the facility. They was the operative word, since Echizen was doing nothing more strenuous than holding onto Momo's shoulders as he furiously pedalled to make it on time. Ryuuzaki-sensei mentioned yesterday that they would be having an early morning meeting today and could all members make sure they were on time. Since she had been pointedly looking in Momo and Echizen's direction, they deduced that they would be tempting the fourth terrace of Purgatory (1) if they were to arrive belatedly.

Echizen raised a brow but since he was behind Momo, it would go unnoticed unless Momo turned around.

"I mean, not that I want anything to go wrong in the country or anything but I'm really bored," Momo continued.

"I'm sure you have another reason Momo-sempai," Echizen said, smirking evilly down at Momo's head when he saw that even the back of his neck had coloured.

"No reason," he said and began to concentrate on the path they were cycling on. Echizen nodded in agreement.

"Sure. It's got nothing to do with the English test you have in second period, does it?" he purred.

"Wha? How do you know that?" Momo spluttered, glancing back.

"Momo-sempai!" Echizen called to direct his attention to the cat he was about to run over. Swerving quickly out of the way, Momo righted his bicycle and turned again to stare at Echizen accusingly.

"Have you been in my head again? Because if you have, I'm gonna start thinking some really horrible things to make you stop!" he cried, his voice rising to an octave Echizen was only familiar with in Horio.

"No I haven't!" Echizen replied indignantly, "You seem to have forgotten that you have been complaining about it loudly for the past week! If you actually revised instead of moaned, you might just pass! And any way, do you honestly think that anything you could imagine would be more horrible than what is in Fuji's mind? I have to take a shower when I've been in his. If you want, I could share to give you some starting ideas?"

"No, no, no, I'm fine thank you Echizen. No insult meant." They carried on cycling in silence for a few streets until Momo suddenly applied the brakes. Echizen jerked forwards and only a quick reflexive tightening of his hands on Momo's shoulders stopped him from going feet over apex.

"What are you doing?" But Momo was oblivious, looking like he'd just had a revelation. Wild eyed he turned to Echizen.

"You can read minds!"

Echizen looked at him as though he was special. "Well done. You get a gold star. Now the dog goes…"

Momo rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it. If you can read minds you can read the teacher's and tell me what's on the test!" He looked very pleased with himself at the thought but the smile slid from his face when he saw the stormy expression on Echizen's.

"No." And then, Echizen dismounted and began walking to the facility. Given that it was just around the corner, Momo dismounted too and walked alongside him.

"Come on! Help me out here Echizen!"

'NO!' was the word that began resounding around his head, reverberating with every revolution. Momo winced. "Ok. How about you put English in my head. That'd work. You speak English don't you?"

Echizen looked contemplative and then nodded. He put his hands on Momo's temples and closed his eyes. Momo expectantly waited for his head to be filled with verbs and pronouns like an ewer being filled with water. But nothing happened.

Then a single sentence in English began to circle around his mind.

'You wish!' And then Echizen walked off. The effect was lost slightly as Momo then ran after him and asked him what the two words meant.

* * *

As soon as the two arrived at the facility, they went to the boardroom and were quickly whisked into a flurry of greetings. Echizen managed to extract himself from Eiji's trademark glomp, which had become a daily occurrence for him, to look around the room. He noticed that there was one extra person sat at the table next to Ryuuzaki-sensei with black hair and violet eyes who seemed to be staring at him with a smug kind of erudition.

Echizen decided he didn't like him. And apparently he wasn't the only one.

Feeling waves of animosity emanating from somewhere behind him, he turned reluctantly and saw Fuji standing behind him, staring open eyed at the newcomer.

'Creepy.'

Fuji was staring at this newcomer as if he could actually make him combust through sight alone. Sensing someone's eyes on him, he glanced to see Echizen looking at him in silent abject horror.

'Mizuki,' he whispered in his mind and Echizen looked back to the non-Seigaku member in comprehension.

"Right. Now that we're all here, we can begin," Ryuuzaki-sensei said and everyone assembled themselves around the table with the bumbling grace of a bunch of teenagers. After gaining some semblance of attention from the boys (she just couldn't achieve the same level of reverence Tezuka had) she began her explanation.

"We have been approached by St Rudolph to discuss a possible joint training session," here she waved a somewhat negligent hand in the direction of Mizuki.

Mizuki took over here. "For those that don't know me-" here he glanced in the direction of a glowering Fuji "- I'm Mizuki Hajime and I'm the bench coach (2) for St Rudolph. We approached Ryuuzaki-sensei some time ago for a joint training session as I believe it would benefit both teams immensely and prepare us for future instances where we may have to work together."

The members of Seigaku psi squad glanced around at one another. Oishi decided to be the voice of the team. "When? We have reassessment coming up soon (3)."

"If no-one has something on today that would stop them, we could use today for it."

The others began to nod in agreement that their day was relatively free and Momo looked around in relief at the thought of getting out of his English test. Unfortunately, Kaidoh witnessed his relief and decided to take is rival down a bit.

"Fshuu, Momoshiri (4) has an English test today."

Momo looked aghast at the revelation of this information to the rest of the team, especially Oishi since his role as Seigaku's resident mother hen would mean that he would immediately protest to this. And true to form, he did. Loudly.

"Oh, but we couldn't make Momo miss his English test! What if his grades dropped as a result? What if he were kicked out of the facility for not having enough credits to stay in?" He went on ignoring an indignant Momo's "hey" in the background and the snickers from Eiji, "He'd have to live on the streets! With no money, no clothes! Oh God, what if he ended up dying?"

Here Inui intervened before Oishi gave himself a coronary (5). "The probability of that occurring is so low I'm not even going to calculate the statistics Oishi."

"Yeah Oishi-sempai. It's only an English test. I can make it up later." Momo chipped in. "It's not even the end of module exam."

Oishi worried his lip for a while until he nodded. "Well, if it's not important I suppose we could do the session today. If your instructor is ok with it."

"I'm sure it'll be fine Oishi. I'll talk to Momoshiro's instructor," Ryuuzaki-sensei said, putting an end to that argument.

Here, Mizuki took over again. "We can have a session in the manner of the formal tournaments (6) to hone our team and solo abilities. We have scanners at the facility that can read for optimum performance in all areas of action, so if possible, we would like to do this at St Rudolph facility."

Tezuka nodded along, finding the plan satisfactory and Ryuuzaki-sensei agreed to train at theirs instead of the Seigaku one.

"Of course, if you wish, we have some non-members of the group you can practice against before the joint training session. We would be grateful if you could, since it would give our students an excellent learning experience."

"There is data to support that we would greatly improve our skills, especially our teamwork," a glance over to Momo and Echizen, "if we did practice against the other students first. It would be an excellent way to warm up and give me a chance to collect valuable data on other psis," Inui piped up.

"Us or St Rudolph?" Oishi asked, but received no response other than a flashing of Inui's lenses in the light.

Echizen looked boredly at the other members who were in various stages of excitement besides him, who was just relieved to get out of another day of monotony.

Well, besides another as well.

Fuji, the sadistic tensai, was looking less than amused with his eyes open and piercing into Mizuki's soul, trying to magnetically draw it out through his mouth so he could make him experience new levels of pain. Or at least that's what Echizen deduced from the almost penetrating gaze.

'How protective is he of his brother,' Echizen wondered but then realised he would most likely find out later.

Ryuuzaki-sensei and Mizuki appeared to have finished their discussion and the Seigaku squad filed out to leave the matronly women to negotiate with their various instructors to release them for the day. As they left, Echizen walked besides Momo who was talking animatedly to Eiji.

"Eiji-sempai," Momo asked, "is there a reason why Fuji-sempai spent the whole meeting trying to give Mizuki a new hole in his head?"

Echizen decided then that Momo might not be as dense as he appears. Perhaps there was even some hope for him yet, academically speaking. Possibly. It was still more likely that this was a last ditch effort of a lonely neurone (7) to have some input in what he said.

Eiji looked around a bit nervously, seemingly looking for Fuji. When he decided it was safe enough to talk, he did in a hushed whisper. Apparently, Fuji was just that scary.

"Well, Fujiko's little brother, Yuuta, used to come here with Fujiko. But when it became apparent that Fujiko was psychically gifted, Yuuta felt slightly," he seemed to search for a word here, "upset about it. Then he left to go to St Rudolph and has disliked Fujiko since. It later came out that Yuuta had been scouted by Mizuki to go to St Rudolph and Fujiko didn't like that."

And when Fuji didn't like something...

"After that, Yuuta began sleeping in the St Rudolph dorms and only coming home occasionally. They haven't interacted power wise in over a year. I don't even think they have even spoken about their powers to one another."

"Well that makes sense," Momo said and they continued walking to the locker room to get their training gear. On the way there, there was an unfortunate incident where Momo and Kaidoh accidentally bumped into one another and began Argument No. 63 since Echizen had become a member of Seigaku. Deftly, Eiji and Echizen dodged the quarrelling couple and entered the locker room. They went to their respective lockers and picked up their clothes and things. Inui was at his locker and seemed to be rifling for a certain notebook. It looked as though he already had a book on St Rudolph that he wanted to update.

When they had all collected what they wanted, rather hurriedly in Momo and Kaidoh's cases, they proceeded upstairs to where their bus was parked and they made their way St Rudolph.

* * *

Unlike the larger, more famous facilities, St Rudolph was a small, single story building that had connecting dormitories to house their students who lived too far away to commute every day. They went through the main entrance, garnering curious looks as they filtered through. When they got to the training grounds the Seigaku squad were surprised to see that they were mainly based outside, with clay grounds and mostly, it was completely open, barring a section on the side with a small awning.

Echizen could quite clearly feel the waves of confusion coming from some of his other team mates at the strange arrangement of training grounds. Most facilities opted for indoor grounds to cover for all kinds of weather, but this arrangement was baffling.

Mizuki led them through a door that led into a building where his team must have been located, and they emerged in a large gymnasium with numerous psis milling around.

"Alright everyone, gather round! I've brought Seigaku's squad with me today as they have agreed to a joint training session with us. We're going to have them spar a little with the non-members to warm up a little, think of it as a learning experience, and then they'll practice with the members. Even if you're not a member, I want you to hang around and watch. It'll be good to see."

The non-members began to chatter excitedly between one another at the prospect of being able to spar with one of the Seigaku squad. The members exchange long suffering looks as though this was an expected action of their bench coach.

The Seigaku squad was directed towards the changing rooms where they changed out of their school uniforms and into loose fitting exercise wear. Standing on the edges of St Rudolph's strange grounds, they observed as Mizuki guided his non-members through various warm ups.

"Inui," Tezuka asked, causing the bespectacled nullifier to look up, "what do we know about St Rudolph squad members?"

Inui pulled out his St Rudolph specific notebook and began to reel off various pieces of information. "Their bench coach, Mizuki, reads fears and can then direct his squad to exploit these."

Momo whispered "Almost like Fuji" to Echizen, but unfortunately, his whisper was a lot louder than anyone else's definition of whisper, so the person in question looked around. And smiled at Momo.

Who immediately almost lost control of his pudendal nerve (8).

Inui carried on regardless of the silent confrontation happening two feet to his left. "Their squad leader Akazawa can create illusions and their vice Nomura has the power to make his voice compelling. Yanagisawa and Kaneda have powers of regeneration and materialisation. Kisarazu is an interesting case. Like his brother, he can create a storm, which is probably why the training sessions appear to take place outdoors. Specifically, he can control the thunder aspect of a storm, I believe his brother is lightning. Fuji Yuuta has a very unique power. I'm sure Fuji knows this better than I do by any rate."

"Yuuta is special. Like our family, he can control receptors but his right hand can dull pain whereas his left can amplify it. He's a very powerful psi, even if he doesn't think it," Fuji purred.

Fuji was right though, it wasn't just his near religious worship of his brother that coloured his words. Yuuta's power was truly unique and could make him a pivotal figure in the future of the psi world.

"The non-members of the squad I'm not sure about, but I doubt they'll pose much of a challenge to us," Inui concluded with a rather smug sounding voice. Or perhaps that was how his voice sounded when Seigaku attended these joint training sessions. They did have a reputation for doing them often, which was supposedly one of the reasons behind why they were "so ready and prepared for whatever their next case threw at them."

In the words of the psi reporter Shiba.

As it turned out, Inui was right although Echizen would never admit it, even on pain of death. The non-members of St Rudolph were quickly finished off by them, seemingly putting up no fight against the titan-like strength of Seigaku's members. Some were even scared and fainted by Kaidoh's glare alone. If Kaidoh were Fuji, Echizen was sure a self-satisfied grin and a comment about how he'd been practicing it lately would have followed.

Thankfully, he wasn't. One Fuji Syuusuke was enough for the world, let alone Seigaku, to handle.

Even after making quick work of his non-members, Mizuki didn't appear to be too fazed. He was standing on the edge of the chalk lined courts, watching Momo desecrate one young student, with one hand raised up, resting long fingers on his temple and staring intently at the Seigaku members, eyes piercing their souls.

"So it's begun," Inui said, stepping up behind where Echizen was standing and watching their elusive host. "He's searching our fears. I hope you're ready to face yours Echizen." And then he walked away, making notes in that book of his that, even though he had only known him for about two weeks, Echizen was already contemplating burning.

Momo was taking on the last of the non-members so when he finished his spar, they would get to the real reason why they had come. Tezuka and Mizuki were deciding the sparring orders between themselves, Ryuuzaki-sensei staying on the sidelines looking for something to berate her students about later. There would inevitably be something. Once they'd discussed it, they called out for paired sessions to begin, with the interesting, never tried before pair of Momo and Kaidoh against Kisarazu and Yanagisawa. They had potential, if they could stop bickering, Echizen absently thought as he watched them fight all the way to their starting positions.

Mizuki and Tezuka took their places on the benches and waited for the adjudicator to come and preside.

Mizuki looked wholly too smug, Echizen decided, as he gave last minute instructions to his pair, no doubt informing them of the answers he gained when worming around Momo and Kaidoh's fears. For some reason, Mizuki's powers struck a chord in Echizen. They were somewhat similar but Mizuki used his psi talent solely to scare people and that just didn't sit right with Echizen.

'I've been spending too much time with kaa-san (9),' Echizen thought, her stances on fair-play must have rubbed off on him at some point. Echizen knew, without reading any minds that, although joint training was useful, the real reason Mizuki had invited them was twofold. Firstly, he wanted to get more information on the Seigaku squad in a creepily Inui-like fashion. And secondly, he wanted to make their Fuji suffer slightly by making the clearly uncomfortable Fuji brothers interact in ways they went out of their ways to avoid.

'God,' Echizen realised. 'Inui and Fuji have spawned!'

* * *

(1) For people unlike me that actually don't know Dante's Divine Comedy (lucky people. Good book but rather heavy), it's about a man who travels through the three domains, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.

Inferno is the travel through Hell and is spilt into nine circles. First is Limbo, Second is for the lustful, Third is for the gluttonous, Fourth the greedy, Fifth the wrathful, Sixth the heretic, Seventh the violent (which is split into the outer, middle and inner rings), Eighth the fraudulent (split into ten _bogie_) and the Ninth is for the treasonous (split into four rounds). From there, souls enter Purgatorio if they have completed their penance.

Purgatorio is split into ten terraces where the sinful are purged of their sins. The two Ante-purgatories for the excommunicate and the late-repentant. The First terrace is for the Prideful, Second for the Envious, Third for the Wrathful, Fourth for the Slovenly, Fifth for the Avaricious, Sixth for the Gluttonous, Seventh for the Lustful, Eighth is the Earthly Paradise. From there, they enter Paradiso and pass through the nine spheres to God.

Long explanation for what was only four words to you all, but I wanted you to know why I chose them.

(2) Bench Coach – A psi who acts as a trainer for teams that have no trainer of their own. Often a member of the team themselves.

(3) Reassessment – Basically a re-evaluation to make sure their skills and powers are still good.

(4) I think this means "Peach Bum". Hitoji and Konjiki called Momo this during their match.

(5) No intention to insult anyone's intelligence here, but this is a heart attack or a myocardial infarction (MI).

(6) Again, no insult meant but a neurone is a brain cell.

(7) This will become apparent later.

(8) The nerve that controls your bladder. I do apologise for the various medical language that keeps slipping into my work, this chapter especially. At least you can count on me to explain anything medical that crops up. That's got to count for something.

(9) I'm sure you all know this means mum, but I'll give it to you anyway.

* * *

Ok, Chapter 9 over and done with.

R&R

Bumble x


	11. Chapter 10

Alright guys. The next chapter is up.

**Important AN:** If you don't read this, then don't plague me about not updating in the near future. In one week, I am going to work in India for **3 months** and so, there will not be an update as I won't have a computer or internet access. Consider this fair warning that any pokes to get me to update before June will go **unanswered**.

On that note, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor any of it's affiliations.

* * *

The match began as many competition matches did. Momo and Kaidoh approached one side of the court as their opponents, Kisarazu and Yanagisawa took their positions on the opposite side. The referee for their match, Ryuuzaki-sensei herself, began by reciting the rules.

"Ok. Standard competition format. First team to six points with a two point lead on the other team. In the event of a tie, the first to score seven hits on the opposing team with a one hit lead will be declared the winner. The aim is to take the cloth from one of the members of the other team through any means. Try to avoid killing one another. Any method is viable. One relieved of the cloth, the point is counted and the cloth is returned until the match is over. If both cloths are taken from the opposing team at the same time, it is an automatic win.

"Matches shall begin with all members in their courts but during the course of the match, movement is allowed. All points are valid unless questioned by the bench coaches. Let's begin."

With that, Tezuka, who was acting bench coach, and Mizuki nodded and sat on their benches. The other Seigaku and St Rudolph members were watching on the sidelines, removed enough so that any stray attacks couldn't hurt them.

"Doubtless Mizuki has informed his team of the weaknesses of ours," Inui said to those on the sidelines.

"I wonder what Kaidoh's afraid of?" Eiji questioned and seemingly perked Fuji's interest.

"It's too bad they weren't going against Kaneda," Fuji purred, "he'd be able to materialise their fears."

"I wonder if Momo's English teacher would have appeared," Eiji crowed happily and the others (barring Echizen) laughed at the faint dusting of colour that appeared on Momo's face as he overheard the conversation.

The innocent and sadistic ponderings of Eiji and Fuji were silenced by Ryuuzaki-sensei declaring the first match beginning.

* * *

Momo, as per usual, threw the first punch. A devastatingly powerful right hook aimed at the smaller of the two St Rudolph opponents, Kisarazu. For the most part, the unsuspecting player fielded it admirably, with a half step backwards and a cross arm block in front of his face, where the assault was aimed. With this method, he managed to diffuse about three quarters of the power in Momo's attack, but he was still sent staggering backwards with some rapidly forming bruises on his forearms.

The other two players decided this was a wonderful opportunity to join the fray as well and Yanagisawa approached Kaidoh with the intent to hit his stomach with a powerful frontal kick.

If it had connected. Kaidoh stepped to the side and allowed Yanagisawa to sail past him, overbalanced when his kick didn't connect with its target. As he flew past Kaidoh, his fingers stretched out to grasp the brown and white cloth hanging from Yanagisawa's shirt. Unfortunately, his fingers just brushed it when he felt a corresponding whisper of movement behind him as his opponent reached for his blue and white cloth.

Jumping backwards, he leapt out of the way just in time, abandoning his target but preserving his own in the process. A brief flash of irritation flitted across Kaidoh's face at the lack of scoring but given the amount of trust he had in his current partner, he probably rationalised that Momo wouldn't be scoring them any points so he couldn't afford to lose any.

A quick glance over to Momo showed that he and Kisarazu had backed away from one another and were circling around like a parody of predators in the Savannah. Personally, Kaidoh thought it was a bit of a jump to compare an idiot like Momo to a predator even in his head, but he couldn't control his thoughts. At least no one could hear his thoughts.

Pause. Echizen! Kaidoh's eyes darted over to the sides where the others were watching and sure enough, Echizen was wearing that smug, all knowing smirk of his. If he were anyone else, Kaidoh would have groaned. But since he was Kaidoh, he hissed out his last breath and faced his opponent.

Yanagisawa, who had the powers of regeneration, wouldn't be an easy opponent to physically subdue on his own, but thankfully, Kaidoh was never alone really. With a swish of his hand, a viper appeared behind Yanagisawa and began to slither its way towards its prey. Yanagisawa, the poor prey, never even noticed its approach and the snake was in striking distance within seconds. Unfortunately for Kaidoh, Kisarazu did notice it and obviously, the teamwork of the St Rudolph team was slightly better than Momo's and his.

"Yanagisawa, look out!" Kisarazu called, but was unfortunately unable to lend him some aid as Momo decided he wanted to attack him at that moment. Delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to Kisarazu, who was distracted by calling out to Yanagisawa, Momo was somewhat surprised when it connected. Kisarazu went flying to the back of the courts, regaining his footing only as he tumbled a few times. He looked up at Momo, he eyes flashing a steely grey colour and suddenly, the blue sky turned the same colour. The air got heavier and clouds gathered above, their water saturated bodies seemingly teeming with anger. Quickly, Kisarazu looked to his partner and saw that he had dodged the sneak attack of the viper, only to be confronted by a snarling, angry wolf that was prowling towards him menacingly.

'I have to get Momo's cloth. Otherwise, they'll incapacitate us both,' Kisarazu thought and unleashed the power of Zeus. Thunder rumbled through the sky, ominous and powerful, like the footsteps of an approaching deity. It reverberated through the charged air and even into the ground. Momo felt some kind of forgotten horror pass through his bones as the solid ground beneath his feet shook with the powerful clashes of clouds.

He could do nothing but watch as the area around him shook with the power of an earthquake. Standing on the sidelines, the other students of St Rudolph were loudly cheering at the revelation of Kisarazu's power. The Seigaku onlookers looked on, slightly hopelessly, as one of their members froze, the vibrations awakening some long forgotten fear within him.

Thankfully, there was at least one person that seemed unaffected. Kaidoh, whose animals were well on the way to incapacitating Yanagisawa, looked around when he felt the earth move. He saw his partner freeze and Kisarazu approach him, clearly intending to relieve him of his cloth. Unfortunately for Kisarazu, Kaidoh was closer. With speed normally reserved for individuals gifted with super speed, he raced towards Momo and delivered a belting cuff around the head.

"Ow! What was that for Mamushi?" Momo complained loudly, but successfully snapping out of his stupor.

"Fshuu, baka! You nearly cost us the match. Just stick to the plan," Kaidoh hissed and slouched back to his opponent who _oh so thoughtfully_stayed in the same place thanks to the viper now entwined lovingly around his limbs and the growling wolf standing guard. He looked back at Momo and said, "one minute."

Momo then leapt into action, physically and literally. He formed a fist with one hand and waited for it to start to glow blue. When he deemed it right, he punched straight up into the sky, dispelling the clouds with ease and thus, stopping the thunder.

45 seconds.

He jumped towards Kisarazu and aimed a side kick to his waist, which Kisarazu dodged by back flipping.

30 seconds.

As Kisarazu righted himself, he was faced with seeing Momo leap into the air to deliver another strong punch with his right hand, powered not only by his muscles but also by the gravity pulling Momo out of the leap.

15 seconds.

Kisarazu managed to block the punch by the skin of his teeth and stood his ground firmly. However, it once again took the strength of both his arms crossed over his face to stop the assault, leaving his cloth wide open for removal.

0 seconds.

The onlookers were amazed as Kaidoh and Momo simultaneously removed the cloths from both Kisarazu and Yanagisawa, both of whom had their hands otherwise occupied (one was dealing with a punch, the other had them pinned to his sides). There was complete silence from the peanut gallery as Ryuuzaki-sensei announced an immediate win for Seigaku with a smirk on her face.

"What just happened?" Eiji asked, looking on at the scene in front of him in a kind of bewildered amazement. Oishi didn't bother to vocally answer, just shaking his head pathetically. The others were milled around the court and all had borne witness to what had just occurred. Personally, Echizen didn't want to believe it. It made much more sense for his vision to have played a trick on him than give in to the notion that Momo and Kaidoh could actually work together.

It went against all laws of nature. They had actually discussed a plan with one another before they leapt into the match. It was baffling to the mind, even to someone as familiar with the intricate workings of the mind as Echizen. Kaidoh and Momo left the court in complete silence, walking about three metres apart and looking to all in the world as though they hated one another.

Which was probably true and made St Rudolph's defeat much more insulting. Echizen tore his gaze away from the two Seigaku members who were towelling off and rehydrating, to the St Rudolph pair. They were currently being spoken to by Mizuki who was frowning. Echizen could pick up various stray pieces of the conversation, but it was more like a berating. For some reason, Echizen felt rather pleased at the thought of Mizuki's plan falling apart.

The entire populous of the area was so confused by the quick ending of the match, just when it was heating up, that the start of the next match was slightly delayed. Neither the members of the St Rudolph team nor those of the Seigaku squad completely registered what had happened so as a result, they were unprepared for the bark that left Ryuuzaki-sensei's mouth.

"What are you all hanging around for? The next match is beginning!" she ordered, snapping everyone out of their dazes. St Rudolph was quick to bring out their next players for the final doubles match. The squad leader Akazawa and an extraordinarily plain looking Kaneda came forward and approached Mizuki. Tezuka motioned for Eiji and Oishi to come to him and the pair advanced towards him in perfect synch.

"This should be interesting," Inui said, looming behind a startled Echizen. Thankfully, Echizen's shock only displayed itself in a slight widening of his eyes, so nothing was visible to Inui.

That didn't stop him from whipping out his infernal notebook to write something in it that was no doubt inconsequential to all others besides Inui.

"Eiji and Oishi's combination is well known," Fuji sidled up, giving Echizen his second shock in as many minutes, "so much so that they are called the 'Golden Pair'."

"Oishi provides support for Eiji's attacks," Inui continued as though he had never been interrupted. Fuji smiled and glanced over to his left. Following, Echizen's eyes involuntarily slid over to Mizuki, where he was debriefing his team.

"With Mizuki telling these two Eiji's and Oishi's fears, it will be an interesting battle. Akazawa being able to form illusions and Kaneda's powers of materialisation will mean that our members will be literally facing their fears in this match," Fuji said, looking upon Tezuka, who was doubtlessly iterating this to his two team mates. Eiji and Oishi nodded and stepped up to the court, facing Akazawa and Kaneda.

Ryuuzaki-sensei began the countdown for the next match as Tezuka looked on stoically and Mizuki gazed at the four people, looking far too smug in anyone's opinion.

This time, St Rudolph were the ones to make the first move. Akazawa headed towards Eiji and Kaneda took Oishi as an opponent. They obviously knew of the successful combinations of the Golden Pair and so, decided to separate them as quickly as possible. Both the St Rudolph members appeared to want to put Mizuki's knowledge to good use as Kaneda quickly materialised what was apparently one of Oishi's fears.

The ground bubbled and surged and black ooze rose from the ground. The amorphous blob soon coalesced into a vaguely human shape and quickly began to colour and detail. And then there were two Eijis. Though, it was nothing to do with Eiji's psi gift, it was Kaneda who made it. It seemed facing Eiji as an enemy was one of Oishi's fears.

Now, normally, one would be so paralysed at the materialisation of their fear that removal of their cloth would be easy but apparently Kaneda's power had one gaping weakness. Oishi was an empath and as an empath, there was a certain level of truth he placed in feelings. Empaths trust what they could feel more than they could see and hear in certain situations.

Kaneda's creation had no feelings. Even though it was a stunningly accurate copy of Eiji, it was as unfeeling as a statue. So, Oishi knew it wasn't real and so, wasn't overwhelmed by the fear of being confronted by it. All he had to do was wait until Kaneda got close enough to try and take his cloth and he sprung.

Delivering a shocking sweep to Kaneda's feet, he made him collapse and quickly seized his cloth, thus winning the first game for Seigaku.

By the next match, the St Rudolph pair realised that Oishi wouldn't be fooled by Kaneda's powers and so, they focussed their energies on Eiji. By containing Oishi in a materialised cage, Akazawa could concentrate on disabling Eiji.

Eiji was facing Akazawa, knowing of Oishi's plight but was unable to go to him and help. For Akazawa's eyes had flashed and Eiji was dropped into an illusion of his fears.

Lonely. Isolated. Black. All alone. All alone. All alone.

When Eiji became aware of himself, he knew it wasn't because he had managed to get out of the illusion by himself; it was because Akazawa had released the illusion. He had gathered his cloth after all so the match was over.

* * *

They continued to trade matches with one another, Seigaku winning theirs by not looking Akazawa in the eye and targeting Kaneda and St Rudolph winning theirs by isolating Oishi and targeting Eiji.

"I wonder how they are going to get out of this one," Kawamura questioned the other bystanders. Echizen was curious as well. He could think of a few methods but then, he had the benefit of objectivity. He gazed on as Eiji seemed to vent his frustrations on the bench they were sat on during the short break between matches. Oishi handed him a bottle of water and they exchanged a few words.

His eyes moved over to the St Rudolph players and saw them receiving more advice from Echizen's least favourite person of the day. He decided Momo wouldn't feel too neglected if someone usurped his spot for one day.

Water drunk and advice given, the four players returned to the court to begin the next match.

* * *

After the break, Eiji looked as though he had calmed significantly and he approached the next match with a more objective air. He knew that Akazawa's power relied on eye contact so Eiji could manipulate his power to counter that one.

If Akazawa didn't know which Eiji to target, then his illusions would be useless. Once again, Kaneda decided to isolate Oishi, so Eiji invoked his power.

Despite how well known the powers of Seigaku were, Akazawa still looked slightly shocked when seven Eiji's appeared in front of him.

'Which one is the real one?' he wondered, looking from one to the others. They were all identical and moving independently around him. Two of the seven branched off to target Kaneda and the remaining five stayed to deal with Akazawa.

The two Eijis approached Kaneda from behind and incapacitated him by delivering a blow to the back of the head. Immediately, his cage around Oishi fell and he rushed to Eiji's side. Well, one of the Eiji's sides.

Angered at the attack on his partner, Akazawa furiously turned to the Eijis and thought about how to target this new issue. 'If I don't know which is the real one, I'll make an illusion for all of them!' he thought and began to isolate all the Eijis in their own little worlds of loneliness. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't form them fast enough and even though he had caught some of them in his illusions, they didn't seem to stick. Whenever he formed one, the Eiji would pause and then shake off whatever illusion had taken place. Then, Akazawa was, quite literally, jumped by one of the Eiji's.

The Eiji that had leapt on Akazawa looked up at Oishi. If Echizen didn't know that they weren't telepathic, he would have believed they had just exchanged a thought with one another. Oishi ran towards the unconscious Kaneda and then they both removed the cloths of their opponents at the same time, giving Seigaku their second win (1).

Eiji slipped off of Akazawa's back and the other Eijis disappeared. As it turned out, the real Eiji was the one that had leapt on Akazawa and he bounced towards Oishi where they exchanged a high five.

"Tell me something," Akazawa said as his partner roused himself, "how did you dispel the illusions? I know your power well enough to know that whatever affects your clones affects you."

Eiji grinned and slung an arm around Oishi's shoulders. "Oishi." And then he bounced off to talk to Fuji.

Thankfully for Akazawa, Oishi remained behind to explain it to him. "During the break, Eiji told me what your illusions were. I knew enough about Mizuki to know that he would have told you Eiji's greatest fear was being alone. And I knew you wouldn't change your illusions. Since Eiji and I are partners, I can project emotions easily to him so whenever you made an illusion of loneliness, I would project feelings of comfort and thus Eiji would realise it was an illusion." Oishi then left to talk with Tezuka.

"An illusion only holds power if you believe it (2)," Fuji said seemingly to no one, but Inui and Kaidoh were nodding. Echizen was looking on at them, until he heard his name shouted.

"Echizen!" Ryuuzaki-sensei called. He took that as his cue to meander over to the court where he faced his opponent.

Fuji Yuuta. Oh dear. If he lost, he was screwed. If he won, he was screwed.

He wondered if Ryuuzaki-sensei would accept his excuse of a stomach ache.

* * *

1. I thought I'd mix it up a bit. Can't have you all being content that you know what's coming.

2. A bit of a paraphrasing from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

As always, R&R. And I shall see you in June. Hopefully with a really good tan.

Bumble x


	12. Chapter 11

Howdi y'all. I'm back from India, nicely tanned and everything. I'm now offically a final year student, since I passed all my exams after I came back from India. Yay

Here's the next installment of the story. To be perfectly honest, I don't think this is the best chapter I've written, but I was the best version of events I could come up with.

ANs at the end as usual.

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its affiliations.

PS: Happy Independence Day for my American readers :)

* * *

Echizen's face revealed nothing as he approached the court where his opponent was standing, scowling. It reflected nothing of the whirlwind of thoughts he was having. It reflected nothing of his worry of letting down his team. And it certainly reflected nothing of the ever so slight twinge of something – was it fear? – he was experiencing because of two piercing blue eyes of a certain someone staring at the back of his head, eyes trained on him like targeted lasers.

It probably didn't help that this certain someone was directing his thoughts towards him pointedly. 'Just so you know Kitten,' Fuji's purring mental voice slid across Echizen's cranial crevasses like honey, 'if you do anything to hurt or embarrass my adorable baby brother, I'll remember it.' And it was enough with that one promise to ensure Echizen was actually contemplating throwing the match. Fuji was a prodigy, thus it was logical to assume his memory was excellent. And if all panned out well with his parents, Echizen was likely to spend at least another three years at Seigaku.

He was literally screwed.

He approached the bench where Tezuka was sat, stoic as a great oak as Fuji Yuuta stood in front of Mizuki, no doubt being informed of his greatest fear.

"Echizen," Tezuka's almost unemotional voice intoned and Echizen directed his attention to him, "I know you may have conflicting thoughts of this match and doubtlessly, Fuji has issued a threatening promise by this point, maybe even thought up some truly impressive ideas of torture involving his army of cacti-"

'Dear Kami-sama, please don't give him any ideas,' Echizen pleaded but, as his golden gaze slid over to Fuji, he caught his smirk. He'd overheard. Echizen would have audibly groaned or slumped but he was an Echizen. Nothing if not apathetic.

"-but I want you to remember one thing. You are now a member of the Seigaku Psi Squad. No matter what match it is, no matter your opponent, no matter the odds or stakes, you fight with your own style to win. We are Seigaku; we fight to the end, for ourselves and one another."

After that, Tezuka fell silent, although, from what Echizen knew of him, he'd probably used his word quota for the year to give him that modicum of encouragement. The little telepath redirected his look to his opponent, the scarred brunet frowning at him from Mizuki's bench and finalised his decision. He nodded to Tezuka and walked onto the courts with a "hai Buchou" tailing wispily in his wake.

Better not to waste Tezuka's words, especially since they were his year's supply.

* * *

"As you are all aware, singles matches are slightly different to doubles," Ryuuzaki-sensei began, "since there is no automatic win. Thus, the first person to six with a two hit lead is the winner. Tie break still applies and all methods to abide by the International Psi Rules. Ready?"

Yuuta and Echizen exchanged glances and nodded once.

"Then begin."

Neither of the two opponents rushed at the other in an attempt to land the first blow. Both remained where they were perhaps sizing up their prey. The onlookers watched with the sense of nervous anticipation one gets when watching a football or tennis match; the anticipation, the sympathetic adrenaline, the tortuous waiting.

Fuji Yuuta, the youngest of the Fuji flock, knew next to nothing about the little person standing opposite him as his opponent. Mizuki had no data on this Echizen person given his so recent addition to the team, but he had heard a rumour that he was a telepath.

Which meant mind games.

Yuuta was no stranger to mind games. One did not get reared, or survive, in the Fuji household without acquiring at least four fundamental pieces of wisdom that apply to all aspects of Fuji life.

One: mess with a Fuji, and you bring the wrath of the whole household. Two: Fuji Syuusuke was insane with an almost incestual brother complex. Three: Fuji Yumiko was the scariest of the Fuji children. Four: mind games, in the Fuji household, counted as a form of entertainment, a bonding exercise and a conversation all at the same time.

And with the genius of Fuji Syuusuke in the family, one had to be able to hold their own in a battle of words with more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. Yuuta himself wasn't bad at it. He at least had the possibility of holding his ground in a metaphorical battle with a telepath.

So it was no surprise to him when his short opponent opened his mouth before moving,

"You're Fuji-sempai's little brother, right?" he questioned, immediately touching on a sensitive subject. Yuuta frowned even more but remained silent.

"Ehh," Echizen drew out the noise like a sigh, "don't you have another name as well. The Left Handed Killer or something like that?" And he hit on sensitive subject number two.

"What is your point?" Yuuta growled in a voice of crushed glass.

Echizen smirked and held up his left hand. "I'm left handed as well-" and he wiggled his fingers "-however, I doubt I'd be any competition for your title. I don't need hands."

"I know all about your telepathy and your mind games aren't working," Yuuta said and leapt to attack. Telepaths, Yuuta believed, were arrogant people. So assured in their mental talents, that things like physical blocks and attacks were foreign to them. So he was mildly surprised when Echizen back flipped away from his left hook, but he followed through anyway, using his remaining momentum to initiate a roundhouse kick with his left leg. Predictably, Echizen blocked with his raised forearms in the shape of a cross to diffuse the power.

Yuuta smirked. This was his chance.

He reached out his left hand and grabbed Echizen around the forearm, even as his eyes widened ever so slightly. He then activated his powers; the control over receptors that every Fuji was graced with.

He activated Echizen's alpha fibres (1).

And Echizen saw stars. White hot lightning raced through his body, leaving him paralysed in its wake. My pure stubbornness alone, Echizen kept his eyes open, although his vision was hazy and he was sure the black around the edges wasn't normal.

"Ochibi's in pain!" he vaguely hears Kikumaru-sempai shout through the haze of pain. "Why won't he let go? Ochibi can't move!"

"I don't know," Oishi said, "but Echizen is hurt." He glanced at the pale, sweating boy and felt his heart seize. One of his precious team mates was in pain and he couldn't help. "Can we declare a forfeit?"

Echizen wanted to call out in protest. There was no way he was backing down from this fight. Unfortunately, his voice decided it couldn't vocalise his thoughts. The only sound it made was an exhausted whimper. It never occurred to him to try and use his telepathy.

Surprisingly, it was Kaidoh who spoke for him. "Fshuu, Echizen wouldn't want that. Look at him; at how he is still standing despite the pain. He doesn't want to give up."

Inui, the paragon of sagely wisdom appeared behind them. "Look at Yuuta's face. He is counting."

Echizen forced his heavy eyelids to trek up so he could see Yuuta's face. Although they froze at his mouth, it was enough. Echizen saw that he was in fact counting. Why?

Unfortunately, the world whited and he lost all senses for a moment and must have missed Inui's explanation. When his senses cleared, he was standing exactly where he was stood before except someone had performed a miraculous feat of talent and made the world flip ninety degrees to the right.

It was then he felt the hard asphalt underneath him and he realised he was lying on the court. Glancing up, he could make out a blurry brown form holding something blue and white in, what Echizen assumed to be, his hands.

When his eyesight returned enough to distinguish people, he looked over to his team mates to find they were all looking furious. Especially Fuji.

'Oh Kami-sama!' Echizen thought and looked again at Yuuta, 'he's not hurt, so why is Fuji-sempai glaring at me? What did I do?'

He heard Ryuuzaki-sensei declaring a win for St Rudolph and pushed thoughts of Fuji-sempai out of his mind in order to attempt the arduous task of removing himself from the floor. He slowly stumbled to his feet under the watchful eyes of the entire court, the St Ruldophians looking very smug and those from Seigaku looked murderous.

The most interesting was Yuuta, in Echizen's opinion. 'Even a win doesn't wipe the frown from his face,' he thought dispassionately.

All too soon, the second match began and, emboldened by his last win, Yuuta approached Echizen once more. Like a true subject of classical conditioning, Echizen backed away, to get time to think,

Not even Momo was stupid enough to say anything about the hint of something –was that fear?- in Echizen's eyes.

Yuuta ran at his diminutive opponent, left hand once more outstretched. Echizen jumped backwards, entirely defensive however, Yuuta followed his movements with a flurry of kicks and punches. Echizen was fielding well until he blocked a right handed punch by catching it in his fist.

What he didn't see was the left hand. Yuuta used his momentum to wrap himself around Echizen's back in a parody of a loving embrace. Echizen turned his head to see where he had gone and that was when his cheek came into contact with Yuuta's left hand.

The explosion was intense. Possibly worse than the last time. The world disappeared for Echizen; his team mates ceased to matter, his telepathy ceased to matter, his body ceased to matter. The only thing that mattered was the pain pain pain pain pain.

Until it suddenly stopped.

His team mates looked on helplessly as their baby boy crumpled like a puppet devoid of its strings. Yuuta approached the broken, tragic Pierrot (2) and removed his cloth, giving him a second win.

"Come on Echizen!" Momo yelled, shocking a great number of the silent crowd, "You can do this! You are not this weak!"

"Yeah, Ochibi! Make Seigaku proud!" Eiji chimed in as the rest of the Seigaku spectators joined in. They watched as Echizen regained his footing and panted helplessly.

"Echizen," he turned to see Fuji-sempai addressing him, "do what you have to." With those intense eyes looking at him, through him, Echizen could do little but nod.

He moved into his starting position as slowly as a mollusc and prepared himself.

"_You are now a member of the Seigaku Psi Squad. No matter what match it is, no matter your opponent, no matter the odds or stakes, you fight with your own style to win. We are Seigaku; we fight to the end, for ourselves and one another."_

Tezuka's words came back to him and suddenly, he was angry. Enough was enough. He hurt in places he didn't know he had; even his eyelashes ached and he'd been humiliated in front of his team. No one humiliated him. He would not lose on his own stage (3).

Enough.

Staring across at the scarred brunet, Echizen vowed to win. Even with Fuji-sempai's encouragement, he knew he was still at risk of punishment if he acted against Yuuta but he would not lose. Not to anyone.

He would win. For himself. For his pride.

For Seigaku.

* * *

Echizen began the third match by talking to Yuuta. The receptor controller was about to rush at him again but something in those eyes stopped him and made him listen.

"Have you ever had a telepath as an opponent," he asked, sweat trickling down his face, a single bead defying gravity to cling desperately to a lock of his greenish hair.

Yuuta frowned. 'What is he getting at?'

"Because," Echizen continued, "you have made one very mad. And I have mostly given up caring about what Fuji-sempai will do to me."

And then he closed his eyes, but not before Yuuta caught a glimpse of smouldering anger in that golden, painful gaze. Yuuta, reluctant as he was to admit it, hadn't had a telepath of an opponent before. To be honest, this was the first time he'd met one face to face. Sure, he'd heard all the stories the others had, but it was hard to find this little boy scary, especially since he'd already beaten him twice.

But Mizuki had said he would win. He'd even told him how many seconds to hold on to him to incapacitate him. He had let go early in the first match because Echizen had collapsed, but held on for the exact number of seconds in the next one.

That was his problem. The problem no-one else in the family had. He didn't know when to let go. The others found it completely natural, an internal switch telling them when to stop. Apparently, his switch was permanently in the "on" position, so he had to physically let go instead of just switching off his powers.

His brother had attempted to teach him but he was so patronising when he did it! Thankfully, Mizuki always told him how long to grip for.

He quickly glances across to his brother and saw his electric blue eyes pinning Mizuki in his place, like a shark honing in on its prey.

He wrenched his gaze back to Echizen to find he was still stood there, as silent and unmoving as the solid earth upon which they stood.

'How dare he!' Yuuta thought angrily, 'how dare he ignore me! Think of me as nothing! I'll teach him. Teach him and everyone to respect me.'

With a burst of incredible speed that put the prior matches to shame, he charged at Echizen, an angry bull ploughing its way to the matador. Abandoning all strategy and stealth, he raised his clawed left hand. When within striking range he saw Echizen open his eyes. A flash of pure gold danced through the angry eyes and he murmured a single word.

"Freeze."

The entire consortium grew silent as they watched Yuuta freeze in time, like a film placed on pause. Muscles tensed, he had one foot raised off the ground for his next step. His arms were outreaching statues past his stone carved face, where his eyes were almost comically darting around his orbits in a grotesque dance.

The matador's _tercio de varas _(4).

All watched in horrified silence as Echizen moved forwards to remove the brown and white cloth from Yuuta, the only sound being the teasing whisper of cloth dancing in the non-existent wind.

"Match to Seigaku, 2-1," Ryuuzaki-sensei called, completely apathetic to the method of winning and Echizen voided his power.

Yuuta stumbled forwards as he regained motor function of his body. The whole time he had been mentally screaming at his body to move, lift a leg, drop an arm, do something, but it wouldn't obey. All sensory information was the same; he felt his arms grow tired in their raised position, he heard the crowd quieten and he saw Echizen's approach but he couldn't do anything.

Powerless.

Yuuta could say with all honesty that he was scared in that moment. Locked in his own body. He now knew why people feared telepaths. That power...

It was safe to say that when Mizuki next read his fears, Echizen would feature alongside his fear of becoming invisible.

The onlookers observed in an abject horror as the next match was a parodied repeat of the last. Echizen made Yuuta into his mannequin for the next five rounds, controlling him as effectively as he controlled his own body.

When Yuuta was released from his control, he fell to the floor panting. Angrily, he looked up into Echizen's dispassionate face as Seigaku's third win was announced. He dropped his gaze and heard Echizen approach. He was shocked when a small hand appeared in his line of sight. Tracking the hand up to the face of his opponent, he gaped like a fish out of water.

"It's not going to stay there all day," Echizen drawled, referring to his hand.

Yuuta grasped it and hefted himself upright. Once his hand was released, Echizen began walking away.

"Wait!" He turned to see Yuuta catching up to him. "Why did you do that to me?"

Echizen looked up at him and, just for a moment, Yuuta was struck by how truly old those eyes looked.

"I didn't want to use that attack," he began, "I find it devoid of any taste or artistry (5). It also makes people more fearful of psis that they already were. See?"

He waved a hand at the still silent spectators and Yuuta had to admit they looked scared. "However, it was the only attack I could think of that wouldn't hurt you physically. I mean, I could have used your own attack or restrained you telekinetically, but they would have caused physical pain."

Yuuta was shocked. After all, his attack was based on pain, why wouldn't Echiz-

"_I have mostly given up caring about what Fuji-sempai will do to me."_

'Aniki!' Yuuta moaned in his head and Echizen snickered. By now, the crowd had mostly regained their wits and the Seigaku team was cheering for their youngest member as the St Rudolphians were mourning the loss of theirs.

"By the way, there are a couple of things I want you to know." Yuuta paid attention, as did many of the spectators who were "covertly" eavesdropping.

"I'm going to assume you have difficulty gauging how long to invoke your power for-" Yuuta nodded "-so I won't hold it against you personally but the closer to the central nervous system you invoke, the less time is needed to cripple with pain."

The brunet frowned. Mizuki never told him that. He glanced over to his brother who was nodding in agreement. Could it be that Mizuki lied to him?

"But how do you know that?" one of the audience asked.

"Because once Echizen sees a psi talent, he can copy it," Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

All the non-Seigaku members were agog, even Mizuki. Clearly, he had not calculated that possibility.

"Why didn't you just use my power against me then?" Yuuta asked and Echizen did a little quirk of his lips that might have been a hint of a smile.

"Who knows?" And then he walked back to his team mates.

"You said a couple of thing," Yuuta called, stopping Echizen in his tracks. He didn't turn around however.

After a pause, he began talking. "Doubtless, Mizuki told you my fear and I thank you for not acting on it. In return, I'll give you some advice." Here he turned and his eyes flashed. "Never touch a telepath's face." And then walked back to his team to sit on their bench.

Many people, including Yuuta, seemed lost but he was content to take the advice, walking back and sitting down with a wry smile on his face.

Eiji and Momo were not content to let it lie.

As soon as Echizen sat down, they began pestering him. "Why not?" Eiji asked. " I poke you all the time in the cheek and you never get angry at me. Huffy yes, but not angry."

"I believe it has something to do with Echizen's fear," Fuji purred, sidling up to Echizen on the bench.

"What fear?" Momo asked as Eiji muttered something about stones and Tezukas.

"It is believed in some circles that certain fears are common amongst groups for psis," Inui popped in, "such as a fear of water for fire based psis or fear of enclosed spaces for teleporters."

"I didn't know other fire starters were afraid of that too," Kawamura mused.

"Oh yes very common. Like a general fear of losing control share with all psis." There was a pause so that Inui's glasses could flash ominously. "It has been well documented in the Psi Journals that there is a common fear shared between telepaths. Given their reclusive natures, testing this has been difficult, but there is copious anecdotal evidence to support a shared fear of isolation."

Eiji shouted "Like me!" and reached over to glomp Echizen. Momo was a bit more subdued when he said "Echizen's really antisocial though." Fuji chuckled.

"Slightly different to you Eiji," he explained gently, "telepaths sense things differently to use. Echizen could be completely alone but not isolated because he would be able to pick up the thoughts of someone nearby. And Momo, even though he's antisocial, he's still listening. In fact, it might be because he's listening that he's not speaking." Fuji mused, raising his hand to his chin.

Inui took over there, perhaps feeling slightly put out at Fuji's knowledge. "Isolation for a telepath means to completely cut them off from everything. The easiest way is through the suppression paraphernalia used on criminals but I suspect that wouldn't work on Echizen. There is another way reported in the literature and that would be to switch off their senses, including their "sixth" sense, which we know as the psi centres in the brain.

"Which can be done by someone with control over receptors, thus stopping neural transmission," Oishi finished he line of thought as they all looked at Fuji, who now had an arm slung around Echizen's shoulders.

Fuji looked up and smiled. "And now you understand why Echizen is perfectly content to let Eiji touch him in the face but not me." He reached out his hand to caress Echizen's jaw line but the little telepath shied away.

Momo still looked confused. "I get why he's afraid of that, but what does it have to do with his face?"

"Fshuu, baka. The face is closer to the brain. It would take longer from the arm, giving Echizen a small chance to telepathically counter."

"What was that Mamushi?" Momo exploded, rounding on Kaidoh in a tete-a-tete.

"You heard me Momoshiri!"

"Kaidoh, Momoshiro! Ten laps!" Tezuka barked from the bench.

"Hai, buchou!" And they were off.

"If we're all finished, the next match can begin!" Perched in the tall referee chair, Ryuuzaki-sensei looked like a disgruntled monarch, displeased with her unruly subjects.

"Fuji, you're up."

Fuji smiled benignly and whispered something in the ear of the rapidly paling Echizen and walked to the court.

"Saa, who am I up against?"

There was a sound of a zip being pulled and Mizuki shed his jacket. "Me."

Fuji looked like Christmas had come early and glanced at Ryuuzaki-sensei with a face that said "Can ! Can I really?"

Momo returned from his laps and sat next to Echizen on the bench. "What did I miss?"

Echizen looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Ryuuzaki-sensei is about to start the next match, Fuji-sempai is going to make Mizuki's life expectancy much shorter than it was and I have been warned by Fuji-sempai that I have to pay for beating Yuuta. Something about cactus. There was mention of a camera."

He turned to the court, oblivious to Momo's wide mouth.

"So nothing much."

* * *

(1) Of the many different fibres in the body, alpha and C fibres are the pain fibres. Alpha fibres are responsible for sharp pains, C fibres for aches and the like.

(2) Pierrot is the pantomime clown who was rejected in love by Columbine, who chose Harlequin over him. He is typically portrayed as the tragic Pierrot.

(3) He he he. Love this anime. Anyone know which one this quote is from?

(4) Ok, before the explanation kicks off, I in no way condone bull fighting. I am aware that some do, but let it be known that I was only using this reference to continue the "bull" metaphor that began a few paragraphs before.

Spanish bull fighting has three stages. _Tercio de varas_: The bullfighter observes the bull, its movements and favoured horn etc. When he feels the time is right, he will drive the _vara _(lance) behind the bull's morillo, the muscles responsible for posture control, thus making it angry but controlling its head movements.

The second stage, _tercio de banderillas _is when three _banderillos _(the matadors that control the _banderillas_) attempt to drive two _banderillas _each into the bull's shoulders, angering it further.

The final stage, _tercio de muerte_, involves the matador and the bull. The matador has the _muleta _(the red cape) and a sword. The bull makes a series of passes until the matador performs the _estocada _(thrusting of the sword into the heart or aorta).

I chose _tercio de varas _to display the control Echizen gained over Yuuta's movements but also the enticement of anger.

(5) Guess the anime reference again. I'll make it easier, the anime is the same for (3) and (5)

As always R&R

Bumble x


	13. Chapter 12

Ok, don't throw things at me! I know it's been a while, alright, a _long_ while, but I am uberly sorry!

This was a really hard chapter to write (imagine trying to get blood out of a stone) and I had very little free time in which to write (fifth year is intense!).

But, better late than never, right?

On the up side, thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially KitsuneNaru, who reviewed every single chapter in one go. Epic!

Well, this wrapes up the St Rudolph arc, so I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of it's affiliations.

* * *

Fuji Syuusuke was an interesting person. No one would deny that. Knowledgeable to the genius level and far wiser than any other his age, he was unmotivated to a significant degree. Beyond his little brother, he frustrated his educators with his lack of enthusiasm. The trouble with prodigies was that things came so naturally they lose all desire to try and improve. Controlling his talent had always been as instinctive as breathing to Fuji, so when his progress halted at Level six, he was disappointed but content. After all, one cannot fight nature.

Right?

He stayed this way, coasting through life, generally annoying and frustrating his peers and instructors and being happily content for his life to revolve around Yuuta.

Until he met one Tezuka Kunimitsu. When they met on the street courts one day, he had just finished beating some psis, somewhat happy with their pain, and he heard someone approach. He turned to see the formidable form of Tezuka behind him. When they had a match, Fuji was astounded by how outstripped he was. Granted they were both Level sixes but Tezuka's drive was immeasurable.

Defeated on the court, Fuji had met his inspiration. He'd do anything to feel that thrill again. Taste the excitement, smell the electricity. Anything to experience that stimulus again.

So he applied himself. He began to work. Everyone he met was amazed by the progress he could make by trying. He was amazed.

Then, he transferred to Seigaku and met him again. The same thrill was there, but now, Fuji had started to catch up. It was more intense, more enjoyable. More stimulating.

Ryuuzaki-sensei worked him hard, as she did Tezuka and the rest, and he grew. Blossomed into a Level nine and he had done it.

He'd defied nature. He'd gone further, so it was natural to assume that Tezuka would too. Unfortunately, they hadn't had a match since he'd transferred, so Fuji's frustrations built. They'd fallen into a pattern of regularity and Fuji couldn't stand routine. It bored him, and he remained that way. Until a little telepath wandered into his web.

His days became more interesting as Echizen shook things up and pushed known limits. He bantered with him when others were wary. He insulted him when others were respectful. He interacted with him like a normal person.

It helped that he didn't know all of the Fuji truths yet. When dealing with the likes of Fuji Syuusuke, and to a lesser extent, the entire Fuji clan, one must know certain fundamentals about his character.

One: he is a well-known sadist. All who had heard of the incident where Yuuta was bullied knew this well. His retribution was fierce.

Two: he is staunchly protective of Fuji-the-Younger.

Three: he is comparable to a pit viper, with lightning quick thoughts and a poisonous mouth.

Four: he holds some quite epic grudges. Just ask Kurosaki, who had laughed at his eyes in first grade.

Five: psychological warfare is his speciality to the extent that even little telepaths who have just joined the team refuse to play mind games with him.

Echizen made his days more interesting and having him and Yuuta together made him very happy. Unfortunately, he also knew he had a task to complete before he could embarrass them both. Looking across the brightly lit courts, he saw his target warming up as though this was a tennis match instead of a psi match.

Regrettably for one Mizuki Hajime, today he had invoked Fuji Fundamental Number Two by guiding Yuuta wrongly, which would result in a combination of Fuji Fundamental Numbers One, Four and Five being employed through Fuji Fundamental Number Three.

The poor soul.

It began innocuously enough, with Mizuki placing his fingers to his forehead to read Fuji's fears and the prodigy just looking one, smiling benignly. Very quickly, Mizuki had a look of terror on his face, completely encompassing his features into a canvas of emotional torment.

'How delicious,' Fuji thought, knowing what Mizuki had just seen and feeling delighted by the prospect.

Now, let it be known that Fuji used to be a rather kind and gentle person and most of the time, and compared to his elder sister, he was positively an angel. He remains this way, obviously with a _slight_ undertone of sadism, thus many people were blinded by the halo that rested innocently on his brunet hair. However, when there is a person stood in front of him who mercilessly stole his brother, lied to him and even had the audacity to mentally hurt him, well...

His undertone of sadism became an overtone and his halo wasn't propped up by his unearthly innocence. It was held up by his horns.

"Well Mizuki, should we begin?" Fuji purred and watched gleefully as his opponent gulped fearfully and reluctantly moved himself into a basic stance. He himself, remained standing perfectly neutrally as he observed his prey.

He scrutinised the poor little rabbit put up his futile defence and chuckled mirthlessly. Distantly, he heard Ryuuzaki-sensei motioning for the match to begin but all his focus was on the person stood before him.

Mizuki rushed forwards, knowing that the longer he let the prodigy think the smaller his chances of success were. And they were already so slim. His only choice was to attack first, his only chance of a modicum of victory.

Pitiable strategy. Fuji simply remained still as Mizuki rushed at him, hoping to win physically, since his fear….

Well, employing that tactic, it is going to be a quick match. As Mizuki approached him, drawing closer and closer, his fist was rushes towards Fuji's smirking face. And then he felt angry, angry at that smug, smiling, smirking, smirking, smirking face.

'Christ! I'm channelling Yuuta!' Mizuki thought.

* * *

No one really understood why Echizen snickered at that point of the match. Momo sidled away from him a little bit. Wouldn't want to catch whatever it was now would he?

* * *

Fuji made no attempt to move out of the way of Mizuki's speeding fist, ever smiling inanely. When the knuckles came within an inch of his face, Fuji tilted his head slightly to the side and let it fly past him, over his shoulder. Then he sprang into action, grabbing the arm and holding it there with strength that belied his form.

He kept the arm there and leant forwards so that his and Mizuki's faces were a mere hair's breadth apart.

In a voice pitched no higher than a whisper, he breathed out something that no one watching the match could hear. But they could see how Mizuki's face drained from a healthy colour to a pallid white and how he began to shake, quite uncontrollably. He looked at the one who had instilled such fear into him, eyes wide and Fuji simply smiled angelically, reaching forth his unoccupied hand to grab Mizuki's cloth, completely unopposed.

"Game, Fuji!" Ryuuzaki-sensei called from her perch, slightly perplexed at the easy win but satisfied nonetheless.

As the participants prepared for the next match, Mizuki's reluctance to continue could be seen by all spectators in his sloppy stance and unsure footing. But the match continued at Ryuuzaki-sensei's word anyway.

Unlike the previous match, Mizuki was still this time, not moving towards Fuji and making no effort to erect a defence. So, when Fuji simply began to walk towards him, he was as still as a statue and posed no resistance to the easy removal of his cloth.

Yuuta frowned. Clearly his aniki had said something to Mizuki that shook him to his core. He would even go so far as to say that Mizuki was scared, which was impossible as Mizuki was the Master of Fear and so, nothing would scare him. Nothing could scare him.

'Except aniki,' Yuuta thought with a sinking feeling in his gut. 'Aniki could scare a demon back to the Makai (1).'

The next matches proceeded much as the second, with the only difference being that during some of them, Mizuki actually ran away when Fuji approached, meaning an immediate forfeit of that match since he left his court and in the last match, it all became too much for the St Rudolphian. Fuji wandered off the pitch towards his team leaving Mizuki on the floor of the court muttering insanely to himself.

When Fuji sauntered off the pitch with a score of six-zero, leaving Mizuki sprawled on the pitch looking like he had some severe psychological damage, no-one was really surprised. It was a given that Fuji would win this match. Not only was he superior in terms of psi ability but he was also irked. And an irked Fuji meant that he wouldn't even feign losing, not even to relieve his crippling boredom. After all, being a genius meant that his days were spent drifting from one monotony to another. Anything that interested him for even a moment was pounced upon like a feline.

This is why Fuji was currently trying to imitate a well-known redhead by attempting to glomp an adorably grumpy telepath.

* * *

Yuuta stared at the situation before him with a torn mind. He was also angry at Mizuki for falsely teaching him and he was also a Fuji, so he shared certain traits with his brother. But Mizuki was also a member of the same psi squad as he and as such, he was obliged to feel horrified and insulted when his sempai was beaten by his brother in less than two minutes.

Especially when his brother hadn't laid a single finger on him and so, hadn't even used his talent. Yuuta had watched in abject terror as his ever smiling brother ridiculed and demoralised Mizuki by only one sentence –threat- to the extent that he was left curled up on the floor.

He was shocked and scandalised however he couldn't ignore that little part of himself that was thrilled by the situation. That dark place inside him that thrived on someone else's pain. He had kept it so very hidden but, after all, he was a Fuji.

* * *

"Fujiko!" Eiji called enthusiastically, arms outstretched in preparation for a hug, Oishi standing somewhat awkwardly in the background. "That was amazing. But slightly creepy. How did you do it?"

Fuji smiled patiently at the cloner who was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. How could he refuse that? "Well, Mizuki might be able to read fears, but he and I already know that my biggest fear has come true anyway, so it was useless on me. And I can get inside his head just as easily as Echizen."

Here, he sidled up to the green haired boy and attempted to throw an arm casually around his shoulders but Echizen shrugged away and moved to stand near Momo, who looked shocked, but nevertheless, tolerated the closeness.

Fuji acted put out but continued. "Granted my way was through suggestion and implication, but the right words said at the right time can make someone destroy themselves."

Right then and there, Fuji proved that he was quite possibly the scariest person in the entire Seigaku Facility. After all, one that can destroy someone's mind like a telepath without being one was a truly intimidating individual.

* * *

Considering the previous matches, it was almost pointless to continue on with the final match, but since this was an exercise in education, it proceeded anyway.

"This should provide invaluable data," Inui said from the side lines, green notebook and pen poised and ready to go. Eiji was bouncing, again, and was too excitable for Echizen to even consider standing near, so he took up a stance next to Kaidoh and Kawamura, the quietest of the Seigaku bunch.

"The compelling voice of Nomura versus Tezuka-buchou," Oishi commented.

"It's like the unstoppable force meeting the immoveable object!" Eiji chirped, happily shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"It will be exciting to see Tezuka in action again," Fuji purred contentedly, "after all, I haven't seen it for so long."

"Should be fun, ne Fuji?" Kawamura said gently.

They probably would have bantered for longer, much to Echizen's distress, had Ryuuzaki-sensei not called for the last match to begin.

The St Rudolphians were calling for Nomura's win to make up for their lost pride, whereas the Seigaku squad wanted Tezuka to win to keep up their streak.

Nomura, the short, unassuming looking brunet began the match. No one on the Seigaku side had ever heard what his voice sounded like, so when he started to speak, well, the people from Seigaku were certainly surprised.

"Give me your cloth," he said, his voice a deep velvet sliding into everybody's ears, depositing the notion and urging everyone to continue. Momo was actually halfway to stepping forwards onto the court and handing Nomura his squad jacket almost disqualifying Seigaku for outsiders on the court.

The word 'stop!' resounded around his head and all of his muscles stopped. He turned to see Echizen staring at him with that stern golden gaze and instantly understood why Yuuta was so scared.

'Creepy.'

Unfortunately for Nomura, the one person he wished for the compulsion to work on didn't, as Tezuka stood still and as stoic as before, not moving an inch in any direction. He was stock still, with only himself knowing what he did.

"How did he do it?" Kawamura asked.

"I have a few theories, based on Tezuka's previous data," Inui stated "He could have caught the compulsion in a barrier just after it left Nomura, like catching his voice, however since it so clearly affected Momoshirou, it is unlikely."

"He could have put a barrier around himself to stop himself moving forwards in response to the compulsion," Oishi speculated aloud.

"No, I don't think that's it," Fuji said.

"Eardrums," Echizen said and everyone turned to look at him. However, he didn't elaborate in favour of watching as Tezuka formed a bubble shaped barrier around Nomura to stop him from moving. Then, without him shifting an inch, he created another barrier around Nomura's cloth and had that one float back towards him, like a magnetic bubble. When it was in his possession, Tezuka dissolved the barrier and caught the cloth, scoring the point.

"What did you mean Echizen? Eardrums?" Eiji asked.

"Fshuu," Kaidoh hissed, startling everyone by offering up the explanation, "Buchou formed a barrier around his eardrums that meant the compulsion never reached his brain."

Eiji slapped a fist into his palm with a "eureka!" look on his face.

"There is true versatility in Tezuka's barriers isn't there?" Fuji said aloud, looking delighted at the prospect. Tezuka's next match began and he disarmed his opponent in much the same way. "Isn't it just impressive how he can win without even moving? It makes you want to beat him even more doesn't it?"

And slowly, all the Seigaku squad, even Kaidoh, edged away from the slightly obsessed sounding prodigy.

In less time than it took Fuji to win, Tezuka had completely overwhelmed his opponent and gained Seigaku's final win of the day.

Ryuuzaki-sensei descended from her lofty post and shook hands with a somewhat smarting Mizuki, who had regained his wits within the last match.

"Thank you for the matches, Ryuuzaki-sensei," he said, sounding a little more contrite than at the beginning of the day. "It was a total victory for you. I shall have to train the squad more intensely now." Unnoticed around him, his squad shuddered.

"It was a valuable experience for my team. And you all drove us hard. We will improve as well," the lone female replied, glaring at her team, promising slave labour for the next few weeks at least.

And with that, the inter-squad training day was over. The non-squad members of St Rudolph were excitedly recounting the matches to one another as the squad members were taking the experiences they had learnt to improve for next time.

Fuji turned to his squad. "Well, I'm going to have a chat with Yuuta, see if I can convince him to come home for the weekend. If not, well, someone will have to be a substitute instead." And he smiled, wandering off. Immediately all the other members of the squad, barring Tezuka who was in a discussion with Ryuuzaki-sensei, turned to look at Echizen.

"What?" he queried.

"I'm not going, that I'm not!" Momo said, looking honestly petrified.

"I'd love to stay at Fujiko's," Eiji chirped, "but I'm going out with Oishi tomorrow, so I can't go."

Kawamura rubbed the back of his head apologetically, "I have to help my dad at the shop."

"And Kaidoh and I are training this weekend," Inui intoned, doing the sneaky thing that Echizen already abhorred.

"But I was doing things this weekend too!" Echizen almost cried.

"But Fuji-sempai likes you," Momo said. "He's less likely to kill you!"

Oishi looked on disapprovingly. "Momo, you know Fuji wouldn't actually kill you. He's just a bit," he thought for a moment, "intense."

"Well, he can be intense to Echizen. I have to look after my sisters."

Echizen was not pleased with the current course of the conversation and frowned heavily. "But I don't want to go. My mother is finally home for the whole weekend."

Inui's glasses flashed and he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off before he had even begun. 'Don't even think about spewing anything about my mother to them, Inui-sempai, or I shall tell everyone the ingredient list for your latest juice,' Echizen's disembodied voice threatened in his head. Inui wisely stayed silent.

"Wait, didn't Fuji say you owed him something because of your match with Yuuta?" Momo chimed in, looking like he had a brain wave. "You could say that this is your payback and then you'd be scot free!"

Sighing resignedly, Echizen nodded, knowing full well that he would be the only one able to go to the Fuji household if it came to that, unconsciously knowing that Tezuka wouldn't volunteer for the task.

Oblivious to the panicked conversation occurring behind him, Fuji sidled over to Yuuta, who was indulging in a bottle of water.

"Yuuta!" he sang as he approached and Yuuta froze. "Are you coming home this weekend?"

"I don't think so," he said frowning.

"Oh. It's just aneki (2) was thinking about making your favourites for dinner, but if you're not coming, I suppose I'll just tell her not to bother."

Yuuta was now in a pickle. He didn't want to go home. He'd just seen enough of his brother to last him at least a week, but it was his favourites being made, he was tempted. And he didn't want to upset aneki. She was scary when she was upset.

"Alright. I suppose I will," Yuuta said and stalked off, leaving a very happy Fuji behind him.

And a silently relieved Echizen in the background.

* * *

(1) Demon realm

(2) Older sister

As usual, R&R

Bumble x


	14. Chapter 13

Well, as you can probably tell from the mass responding to reviews I've just done, it's update time again. I will apologise for the wait and I will be honest with you, the next one won't be anytime soon as I have my first set of finals coming up and so, I need to relearn the entirity of medicine. It will be hard. Like getting blood from a stone.

Start of a new arc with this chapter. All ANs are at the end again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or an of its affiliations.

Onwards!

* * *

_It was dark and cold. He looked all around himself and saw that his breath was wispily leaving his mouth, an incorporeal whisper of his being. His small frame stepped gracefully down the avenue, glancing left and right. _

_It was too quiet. The branches of the trees had stopped dancing, the leaves had stopped crunching and all around him, the world smelt of death. Decay. Destruction. Moving slowly, he walked past the sign proclaiming the street as "Yaesu __itchōme go-ban__". _(1)

_He walked like Saturn, untouched by the end of sound, towards a house on the street, his footsteps echoing around like a ripple of sound in the silent lake of the night. He drifted past an empty newsstand and glanced at the headline. "Naoto Kan _(2) _makes more cuts to funding" really wasn't interesting, but the top corner that had 21__st__ October printed in it was. He glanced at his watch, 20.12. _

_He reached for the brass door handle on one of the housed and gently pushed it open. It creaked ominously, forbidding entry from all but the stoutest of people. He glanced around, knowing they were nearby. Close. He stepped over the brink, carelessly leaving his shoes on in his slowed haste. Nothing was stirring._

_With trepidation, he looked up the stairs at the faint light emitting from one of the rooms. And like a moth, he was drawn towards this precious light, eager yet reluctant at the same time. Slowly, he ascended, fearing every step would creak a stair and alert the other. _

_Tortuously, he reached the landing with little fanfare and approached the closed door on his left. The faint flicker of artificial light coming from the crack at the bottom was promising to him._

_But also foreboding._

_With hesitant fingers, he grasped the round handle, turning it ever so slowly, dreading what he would see. As soon as he opened the door, he knew what had happened. _

_He saw what was scrawled on the wall. A grotesque design in crimson, a parody of man, morbidly painted with someone's fingers, the medium sluggishly dripping onto the floor, vermillion trailing off of stick arms and legs._

_Against his instincts, he pushed the door open further and saw red._

_Red. Red. Red. Red. _

* * *

Echizen Ryoma opened his eyes to the hazy red numbers on his alarm clock, cheerily proclaiming it to be some ungodly hour in the morning. It wasn't often that he awoke before the evil machine tried to get him up, but that dream was enough to raise the dead.

Out of all his psi abilities, dream walking was the one that he had no control over and it scared him. No-one else in his family was a dream walker. He had thought it was a random fluke during his mother's pregnancy that led to his third power. He didn't dream walk much but his accuracy in it was phenomenal. Not once had one of his walks had not come true.

He cursed that now. He wished that this one wouldn't. That woman, that blood.

That monstrous painting.

But, deep down, he knew it would. Like all the others.

* * *

The sun as shining and the birds were singing that morning as Kaidoh Kaoru did his usual jog to the facility. On his back was his book bag filled with the previous day's completed assignments and his lunch, still lovingly prepared by his caring mother. Having such a gruff exterior, it was hard for people to imagine his family, but his mother was lovely by anyone's standards and was proud of her son. He was a random psi in a family of psi talentless people, but he never let that stop him. He was dedicated and put in so much effort that it was impossible for her not to be pleased with his career choice, even if she didn't fully understand it.

He was slowly running up the steep slope at a pace many would consider a sprint, when he saw it. It wasn't often he saw the newest member of the team without Kikumaru-sempai or that baka Momoshiri but today he was on his own. In fact, he didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything.

Kaidoh frowned. Even though Echizen had only been at the facility for a short few weeks, he felt some modicum of affection towards his kouhai. He wasn't scared of him, like many of his peers and he actually seemed to enjoy his company when the baka and Kikumaru-sempai grated on his nerves. Kaidoh felt a tiny bit warm inside at the thought of being –dare he say it- liked by someone.

So, even though his outward demeanour didn't change one iota, he was somewhat concerned inside. He jogged towards Echizen and frowned even more when his kouhai didn't acknowledge him. Placing one hand on the (rather short) teen's shoulder, he hissed out a breath when the blackish-green haired boy jumped.

That wasn't right. Echizen was a telepath but even if he wasn't, Kaidoh had witnessed how good his hearing was. All his senses were excellent, so for him to be able to sneak up on him, Echizen must be out of the loop.

"Echizen," he grumbled, watching as the younger one got his breath back and turned to face him.

"Kaidoh-sempai," he said. Kaidoh looked him over. He didn't think it was cruel of him to think this but Echizen looked awful. His hair was even more unkempt than usual and his eyes had suitcases under them.

Echizen grumbled something to the tune of "I'll give you suitcases" but didn't storm off. Instead he waited for Kaidoh to get his bearings back and, with a hiss, they set off together in silence. Echizen knew his sempai wanted to ask questions, but could seem to find the right words to say. He took ruthless advantage of this and didn't start the conversation. He didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment.

They got some curious looks when they entered the facility together and some even went so far as to point. Kaidoh hissed in annoyance.

"Echizen?" came a curious voice behind them. They turned and saw Momoshiro climbing up the stairs, openly confused at the scene before him. "Why didn't you wait for me? I called by your house."

"I left early," Echizen's curt, apathetic response was. Both juniors frowned at that. Echizen and early were two words that didn't belong in the same sentence. They were mutual enemies. They hated one another as much as Kaidoh hated Momoshiro, to the extent that Echizen and early often had to be kept far away from one another. Resulting in Echizen's perpetual lateness.

In Echizen's opinion, lateness was a much better entity than early. It let him sleep more and didn't employ the evil alarm clock to do its bidding.

"But Echizen," Momo said at the same time Kaidoh hissed an "Oi, Echizen." The teen in question looked up to see his sempai growling and hissing at one another, in preparation for a verbal spar. He glanced at the large clock above the reception desk. 'Starting early today then,' he thought.

Seeing as he wasn't going to get a response from the two juniors for a while, Echizen stalked off to his classroom, idly noticing Kawamura-sempai conversing hurriedly with Ryuuzaki-sensei. He did contemplate a quick scan, after all, he was Rinko's son and Rinko was an incurable gossip in her younger years, but decided it would be too much trouble.

After all, it was probably nothing. Nothing that would affect him anyway.

* * *

Ryuuzaki Sumire was a difficult woman to shock. In her days as a psi trainer, she'd seen suicides, homicides, the odd bombing, but this was a new level. And it was disgusting. She looked over the photographs laid out in front of her on her desk with an expression that didn't show itself often, even with Inui and his drinks near by.

Revulsion.

The vermillion tapestry on her desk displayed itself merrily, in a grotesque parody of vibrant colours. She sighed and looked at the report that had accompanied the photos. She wasn't sure what they could do. Granted Kawamura was a valued member of her team, but asking her to look into this was odd. The police had caught a suspect and all the evidence seemed to be there, but her gentle fire starter was sure they were wrong.

Just because he knew the man. She glanced at the suspect photograph and sighed again.

She would show her team and get their input on the case. And would take some aspirin before she even began.

After all, she would be talking to teens. Over-reacting was an option with them, it was a biological necessity.

* * *

Calling her boys to the conference room in the middle of afternoon classes was unusual and many of the instructors blinked owlishly at the summons. Echizen's teacher glanced at the messenger and then to her snoozing student and sighed.

"Just wake him and take him," she said, knowing her wasn't going to pay attention to her lesson even if she kept him here. A cynical part of her mind thought 'he probably knows it anyway' as she watched the messenger futilely attempt to wake her narcoleptic student.

Eventually, it was delegated to Horio to have the dubious honour of waking Echizen and he did so with one breath through his high pitched vocal chords. Echizen shot up like he'd been hit and managed to hit Horio in the nose before he'd even opened his eyes.

When he did, he blinked and took in the scene before him. His teacher and class were staring at him as the loud boy –'what was his name again?'- was crouched over, holding his nose. There was someone he didn't recognise stood next to his chair, who jumped when he turned inquiring eyes on him.

"I've to take you to the conference room. Ryuuzaki-sensei requested it," the poor minion said, nervously staring Echizen in his wide, golden eyes.

Echizen nodded and sloppily gathered his things, leaving with neither a backwards glance nor an apology to the increasingly apoplectic instructor.

Just a normal afternoon in Echizen's class.

* * *

By the time he reached the corridor where the conference room was found, he could already hear the noise of the other occupants. He could hear Oishi fretting over something –or nothing, this _was_ Oishi after all-, Kaidoh and Momoshiro were arguing _again_ and he could faintly hear sounds of "Ii data" coming from the room.

Tezuka sighed and place two fingers on his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the impending headache. Looking down at the floor, he was somewhat surprised when a hand holding a bottle appeared in his field of vision. Seeing the label "Aspirin 600mg" emblazoned on the side of the bottle, he stretched his hand out to take it. Swallowing one of the white pills dry, he thanked the person stood next to him.

"Don't worry about it Buchou," Echizen said and slouched inside the room. After a brief pause and a breath, Tezuka followed him into the anarchy that was sure to be inside.

Thankfully, he only had to endure a few seconds of the din as his team respectfully quietened when he entered.

The perks of being Captain.

Stoically, he made his way to his seat, noticing that Ryuuzaki-sensei had been in the room the whole time. Unusual that she let them get so rowdy. When he was seated, Ryuuzaki-sensei began.

"Thank you all for coming. I'm sure you're all curious about why we're here," she addressed the room, noting the confused faces. Clicking her pointer, she activated the projector, showing the first in her slide show. To their credit, none of the boys fainted or threw up, but there was a distinctly green tinge on Oishi's face that she didn't feel comfortable with.

"Recently, there have been a string of murders in the Bunkyo (3) municipality," images flashed on screen of butchered women, laid out on their beds. The projector flicked to the next image of a man drawn on the wall, taken from the doorway to the room. It appeared to have been finger-painted in blood.

What surprised Tezuka at this point was not the sheer horror painted on the faces of many of his team, but the frightening look of _recognition_ on Echizen's face. Like he'd seen this before.

Ryuuzaki-sensei ploughed onwards. "As you can see, the killer paints a man on the wall, using three fingers and does so on the wall immediately visible from the door, so whoever finds the body knows what is happening."

She pressed the button again and a picture of a teen, not much older than them flashed up. His grey hair and golden eyes stared out from the wall. "This is Akustu Jin, an ex-member of the Yamabuki Psi Squad. The police have apprehended him as the suspect, despite there being no evidence implicating him. The bumbling fools decided he must be the culprit because of his name (4)."

"Akustu is a good person inside," Kawamura spoke up. "We used to go to karate class together when we were little. He always had such problems controlling his anger."

"What, like the Incredible Hulk?" Momoshiro said.

"Ahh, more like the only thing he really feels is anger. He's an empath like Oishi, but he only picks up anger. And then he gets angry. He used to have real trouble with it when we were younger and may still now, but I know he didn't do this."

"Was there more evidence?" Inui said. "It seems unlikely that the police would arrest with nothing pointing towards the criminal."

"The official statement was that the prior behavioural issues and painting on the wall were confession enough for him," Ryuuzaki said, sarcasm dripping off every word.

The room erupted with exclamations of unfairness and illegality. Ryuuzaki-sensei had prepared for the inevitable outburst, but even she was surprised by the ferocity of the outcry. She turned to her youngest member, expecting him to be as stoic and apathetic as always, but was shocked when he looked like he was going to throw up.

"Are you ok Echizen?" she asked as quietly as she could but somehow she was heard by all, even over the racket they were making. Perhaps her youngest wasn't as unmoveable as he liked people to believe. He was only sixteen after all.

He turned solemn eyes on her and shook his head.

"He didn't do it," he said with such finality they all wanted to believe him.

"Why not Echizen? There is no evidence to the contrary," Inui spoke.

"He didn't do it because there is going to be another one. Tonight."

Silence followed his statement. Eventually, Fuji spoke up. "What makes you think that?"

"I had a dream walk last night," Echizen said, "and I saw the location of the next attack. It was tonight in the Bunkyo area, in the Yaesu district."

"How reliable are your walks?" Tezuka said, not willing to commit to something unless there was confirmation. Echizen stared Tezuka straight in the eye, his golden gaze unflinching and said:

"I've never been wrong."

* * *

They all leapt into action. Ryuuzaki-sensei had picked up her phone to ring for transport to the area whilst passing Echizen a pen and paper to jot down the block number. Tezuka immediately began barking orders to the other members as they filed out to the locker rooms to change out of their uniforms.

In the flurry of activity it was hard to forget that they were racing against time. Every pause in the motion made the seconds tick that much louder. Waiting for transport was torture. Everyone kept glancing at the clock and when the train finally arrived, it seemed to go slower than ever.

Even with all their preparations, the sun had set when they reached the Bunkyo area and Yaesu district and it took them a further hour to find the right _chome_. They were perilously nearing the end of the clock. When they got to go-ban, they were out of breath but determined.

"Everyone split up. Find the house. Find the victim. Find the killer. Stop them at all costs," Tezuka ordered. They all burst in different directions in their race against time. Despite them all being on the same block, when they split up, it fell deathly silent and still.

It was dark and cold. He looked all around himself and saw that his breath was wispily leaving his mouth, an incorporeal whisper of his being. His small frame stepped gracefully down the avenue, glancing left and right.

It was too quiet. The branches of the trees had stopped dancing, the leaves had stopped crunching and all around him, the world smelt of death. Decay. Destruction. Moving slowly, he walked past the sign proclaiming the street as "Yaesu itchōme go-ban". (1)

He walked like Saturn, untouched by the end of sound, towards a house on the street, his footsteps echoing around like a ripple of sound in the silent lake of the night. He drifted past an empty newsstand and glanced at the headline. "Naoto Kan (2) makes more cuts to funding" really wasn't interesting, but the top corner that had 21st October printed in it was. He glanced at his watch, 19.12. He still had time.

He reached for the brass door handle on one of the housed and gently pushed it open. It creaked ominously, forbidding entry from all but the stoutest of people. He glanced around, knowing they were nearby. Close. He stepped over the brink, carelessly leaving his shoes on in his slowed haste. Nothing was stirring.

'This isn't right,' he thought, looking around the darkened hallway. 'This isn't supposed to happen. We had more time.'

With trepidation, he looked up the stairs at the faint light emitting from one of the rooms. And like a moth, he was drawn towards this precious light, eager yet reluctant at the same time. Slowly, he ascended, fearing every step would creak a stair and alert the other.

Tortuously, he reached the landing with little fanfare and approached the closed door on his left. The faint flicker of artificial light coming from the crack at the bottom was promising to him.

But also foreboding.

With hesitant fingers, he grasped the round handle, turning it ever so slowly, dreading what he would see. As soon as he opened the door, he knew _it_ had happened early.

He knew from what was scrawled on the wall. A grotesque design in crimson, a parody of man, morbidly painted with someone's fingers, the medium sluggishly dripping onto the floor, vermillion trailing off of stick arms and legs.

Against his instincts, he pushed the door open further and saw red.

Red. Red. Red. Red.

He hated red.

* * *

(1) This was really hard for me to get my head around. Basically, they don't have "street" names in Japan (to my knowledge). Addresses are done through firstly the prefecture (Tokyo), followed by the municipality (like Shinjiku-ku), then the district, the _chome_ (Yaesu), the block (banchi) and the building number. For example:

100-8994  
Tōkyō-to Chūō-ku Yaesu itchōme go-ban san-go  
Tōkyō Chūō Yūbin-kyoku

Is:

Tokyo Post Office  
Building 3, Block 5  
Yaesu district 1  
Chuo town  
Tokyo  
100-8994

That _really _confused me.

(2) Naoto Kan has been the Prime Minister for Japan since June 2010.

(3) Again, no reason for choosing this area, but if someone does some research into it and knows what comes next in the PoT timeline, they may be able to find an _extremely_ tenuous link.

(4) Jin = Man in the Japanese language. Personally, if my name was man, I wouldn't go scrawling it across walls letting people know it was me.

As always R&R

Bumble x


	15. Chapter 14

Well, I think I've made you wait long enough. Actually, I was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome in November, after losing falling a few times and stumbling. After being unable to make my own body walk up the stairs and being unable to brush my hair in a morning, I went to the doctor. I said in a previous chapter that there was nothing as scary as losing control of your own body and I can safely say that is true. After a treatment on immunoglobulins and plasmaphoresis and a looooong course of physiotherapy, I'm somewhat better now but still have difficulty controlling my fingers. It's frustrating. As a result, typing this chapter was hard, I won't lie, and probably has a few more spelling mistakes than usual. For this I apologise.

On a lighter note, I passed my first set of finals. Yay!

The general conscensus from the previous chapter seemed to be that it was rather gross. I am sorry for that. I thought it was a watered down version. Clearly I am strange in that respect. It gets a bit gross in this one as well, so I apologise in advance.

ANs are at the end as usual. And I don't own anything.

* * *

Echizen stared at the depraved picture in front of him. The scarlet canvas dripped onto the floor, saturating the carpet with its thick substance and turned it a grotesque sanguine colour. He imprinted the image of the figure, the body, the blood, all into his memory, never to leave his labyrinthine mind, trapped forever. A remote part of his mind cynically smirked at the irony of the blood of the dead woman giving life to the figure of the man. That part was quickly silenced with a wave of guilt at the thought.

He heard frenetic steps on the staircase and the thundering of feet along the hall landing. He didn't turn to the footsteps, nor did he respond to the shouts of his name. Instead, he kept gazing at the red on the wall, sluggishly dripping down.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

And then he saw black.

* * *

Kawamura was not an easy person to shock. Given his large stature, he was the one that got the somewhat scared looks at times, which was difficult as he took this to heart. He wasn't as excitable as Eiji or Momo, nor was he as stoic as Tezuka, but he felt he achieved a good balance of calmness and fire. After all, he was a firestarter and balance was tantamount to control. He knew that some believed him to be stupid or ditzy and Kawamura admitted he did nothing to alleviate those preconceptions, but he was more worldly aware than many people.

However, when he and the others received that wave of horror and, dare he say it, terror from Echizen, he panicked. He ran, as quickly as he could to where Echizen went, barely registering Eiji propping up Oishi with a concerned look on his face. It stood to reason that if Kawamura received that much emotion through the tentative link they had formed during the Fudoumine case, the amount Oishi received as an empath would be much more.

He spared little thought for him though, opting to leave him in the capable hands of Eiji whilst he rushed to the youngest member's side. He turned left into one of the houses that had its front door still open and noticed Momo and Kaidoh sprinting alongside him. They all burst through the narrow doorway and hastened up the stairs. He was the first to see Echizen stood in the frame of one of the upstairs bedrooms, surrounded by a halo of artificial light and unmoving.

"Echizen," he called, trying to catch his attention but to no avail. The younger just kept his eyes forwards, looking straight at something right in front of him. He reached the door and glanced at what kept Echizen so captivated.

And he nearly threw up. He had seen death, he had seen blood, but he had never seen anything so depraved and nauseating. He stretched his right hand out towards Echizen and covered his eyes, wrapping his other arm around his body in an imitation of an embrace. He vaguely recalled saying something nonsensical to Echizen in an attempt to be of comfort as his two other kouhai approached.

He watched on as Momo turned a shade of green usually seen in flora and fauna and as Kaidoh's lips turned up into a snarl. He was as silent as Echizen was as he shadowed himself into a corner and watched as the others arrived. He mutely observed Eiji crying and Fuji opening his eyes. He was noiseless as Tezuka barked out orders to preserve the scene and began to ring Ryuuzaki-sensei and the authorities.

Silently standing in a darkened corner of the hall, he encircled Echizen in his arms, protective and comforting at the same time, shielding him from the world.

And he said nothing when the fingers of his right hand became wet.

* * *

Ryuuzaki-sensei strolled up to the house that Echizen entered earlier that night with a purposeful stride. She ignored the bright yellow tape cordoning off the area and stepped behind it as though she owned the place. When a hapless uniformed officer asked her to remove herself from the crime scene she flashed her psi trainer badge with a grim stare into his eyes. Sheepishly, he corrected himself and scurried back to the superior officer he had abandoned for keeping her away. She skilfully ignored the flashing lights of the cameras surgically attached to the reporters that had flocked to the scene with a morbid curiosity combined with a grotesque desire for gossip.

She strolled like royalty up to the front door and opened it with great authority. Ignoring the minions in the downstairs rooms, she walked up the stairs to the bathroom where her squad had taken residence until the crime scene was processed. When she closed the door behind her, she surveyed the teens with a critical eye. Eiji and Momo both looked worse for wear, as did Oishi, but they were to be expected. She saw Tezuka standing unflinchingly in the corner and Kaidoh frowning with his arms crossed.

'Defensive posture,' she thought. She glanced over to Inui who was surprisingly not writing notes in his book and Fuji, who was seemingly glaring the hideously tiled floor into submission. She looked over to the final two members of her team sitting on the edge of the bathtub, knowing they were the first to see what became of the body. Kawamura looked much like he always did, calm and unfalteringly kind but there was an undercurrent of sadness and anger in his eyes. He seemed to be staring in to space, with his body turned slightly left but his hand was being pulled to the right. She followed his hand with her eyes to see it was connected to her youngest team member. Kawamura seemed unconcerned that his hand was being squeezed hard by Echizen who appeared to be in shock.

She frowned. It was rather out of character for Echizen to do something like that. To openly seek comfort from someone. Looking more closely at him, she could see that his eyes were slightly red around the edges and his cheeks were tear stained.

She was surprised. Echizen was the personification of apathy. If one were to look in a dictionary at apathy, there would be his picture. Then she realised that, despite all of Echizen's presence and mental prowess, he was still sixteen. The thing he saw in that room had sent hardened police officers running. He was barely out of childhood and he was trying to be an adult.

But even adults cry sometimes.

She didn't want to break the silence of the room, the mournful air, but she knew she had to. She needed answers. She cleared her throat and everyone snapped out of their contemplative stances. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Echizen dropping Kawamura's hand like it was a hot coal but Kawamura smiled so gently it hurt. Clearly Echizen had said something telepathically to him, perhaps some gratitude.

"What happened?" she asked, getting the hardest question out of the way.

No-one seemed to know how to answer that and she received half shrugs and noncommittal grunts in response. She watched as they all glanced at one another trying to figure out what they would say.

"It's my fault," a tiny voice said from the corner. Every eye turned to Echizen as he spoke, his gaze resolutely fixed on the floor. "My dreamwalk had the time an hour later than we found her. I must have gotten that bit wrong," he mumbled.

Surprisingly, it was Kawamura that spoke up next in a tone unusual compared to his normal gentle vocal expression. "Don't be so stupid Echizen. It wasn't your fault. For all we know, this happened at two o'clock this morning and she's been there since so any time we found her would have been too late." He put a reassuring hand on his littlest kouhai's shoulder in comfort. "Don't blame yourself."

He looked around and seemed to realise how forceful he'd just been. He reddened and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Kawamura is right Echizen," Tezuka said sternly, "it could have happened at any time. Just because your walk was at later tonight does not mean that her death was supposed to be."

Echizen nodded, eyes still firmly fixed on the floor, but a new fire had started to burn in them. 'Good,' Ryuuzaki-sensei thought.

She proceeded to interrogate her boys until she was satisfied; the whole while different scenarios were rushing through her head at an alarming rate. Ryuuzaki-sensei didn't ascend to infamy in the psi world by being slow. As a psi-less person, she had to work doubly hard to attain her status, and she retained the quick thinking and deductive skills she achieved.

"Oishi," she barked to the empath, who snapped to attention like an elastic band. "Can you get a read on the room for me?"

Oishi looked a bit puzzled and opened his mouth. She silenced him with a stare and her eyes slide involuntarily to the newest member. She knew what he was going to ask. This was clearly a job more suited to Echizen's talents but, call it her much repressed maternal feelings, she didn't want to put Echizen back into that room so soon after his discovery.

Oishi's mouth closed with an audible snap and he nodded in a determined manner. The exchange was done without a word. Ryuuzaki-sensei was certain that Oishi had picked up on her emotions at that point.

"Wait," a little voice chimed in. Everyone turned to stare at Echizen. It struck her at that point how much bigger he seemed with his strong voice. When he sounded like that, it was easy to forget how young he was. But when his voice sounded as small as he was, well, it was hard to see him as the strong, confident and cocky person he was.

"I'll do it. It's more suited to me anyway," he said. Immediately most of the other members of her team burst out with noises of protest. Momo and Eiji were particularly vocal in their dissent. Ryuuzaki-sensei looked around at the sudden cacophony that filled the little bathroom. All but two people were in various degrees of disagreement. Tezuka was as silent and strong as usual.

As was Kawamura. This wasn't behaviour expected of her gentle fire starter. He was very caring and almost reached a level Oishi on the sensitive metre, but here he was, silently accepting Echizen's decision. It belied unspoken depth to Kawamura. On the surface, he appeared to be gentle, kind and possibly a little airheaded but here was evidence that he had a deep understanding of the world. He understood Echizen's need to regain strength. He understood Echizen's need to confront what had happened. He understood Echizen's guilt, despite reassurances that he was not to blame.

Kawamura was more than what many thought.

He understood.

* * *

As he approached the red room again, Echizen took some silent deep breaths to calm himself. He knew the others were concerned about him and part of him wanted to turn around and run away back home. Back to his kaa-san's open arms, who would hug him and tell him it was ok.

That part was ruthlessly squashed, bound and gagged and thrown into a silent corner of his mind.

His father always used to say, in one of his rare moments of seriousness and clarity, "everyone wants to run away from things. It's those that remain who are the truly powerful." When he had said it, Ryoma had looked at him as though he was on some kind of medication or he'd been replaced by some kind of alien life form, but he remembered those words now.

It made him wonder if his precognitive abilities really were due to random gene mutations or if his father had them all along.

Having known Nanjiroh Echizen for sixteen years, Ryoma was leaning more towards option two.

Sneaky childish oyaji (1).

When they got to the room, he wanted to enter. Just one foot forward and he would be over the threshold. Just one foot.

But he found he couldn't do it. Logically he knew it was less than thirty centimetres in distance but he felt as though he couldn't make it. Just as he was beginning to panic somewhat, he felt a hand pressing into his shoulder. Glancing upwards, he saw Kawamura-sempai just standing there, not even looking towards him. No pressure, just reassuring.

It was incidents like this that made Echizen keenly aware that even though Kawamura wasn't one of the more famous members of Seigaku Psi Squad, he was decent in ways others weren't.

Stepping over the threshold he entered the crimson room. He glanced around the splattered walls and vermillion saturated carpet. The woman's rapidly cooling body had been removed carefully but there was a taped outline of it upon the floor. The unmistakable liquid had soaked into the fibres and created a patch of dark red with a distinctive coppery smell (2). It smelt of death.

He stepped forwards and carefully danced around the objects spread out on the floor. The shattered vase, the split water, the scattered eye shadow and lipstick. Approaching the bed he noticed it was messed up. As though it had been made but disturbed. A struggle on the bed.

Taking a deep breath, he extended his hand and gently touched the bed knob (3). Getting a telepathic read off of inanimate objects is, of course, impossible. Telepathy is by its nature, the ability to read minds. However, whenever someone interacts with an object they leave behind a little part of themselves. An imprint. A memory.

A high level telepath can pick up on that memory and empaths can sometimes pick up on the feelings of that memory.

When Echizen made contact with the wooden frame of the bed, there was no outward sign of what was going on, but inside, there was a rush of images, emotions and thoughts.

Kawamura and the others watched as Echizen's face became a porcelain mask; blank and unfeeling with his eyes closed.

_She walked through the door, throwing her messenger bag on the carpet and stretched every joint in her body. It had been a long, hard day at the office; she'd spent too long bent over her computer. _"She had just gotten in from work."

_She walked back into the room, towel over her hair and a glass of wine in her hand, wondering what she should put on for her, dare she say it, date. The man in the IT department had been so charming and kind. _"She was getting ready to go out with someone from work."

_She had her back to the door as she stood in front of her mirror desperately trying to remember everything her sister had taught her about the correct application of eyeliner (4). Behind her, she barely registered the gentle opening of her door, the crack inching its way wider and wider. _"He came into the room from behind."

_She did notice as a hand came towards her, a flash in the mirror. She turned to face her attacker and he grabbed her carefully styled hair. He threw her on the bed and straddled her hips. She saw black. The black of his sweater, the black of his jeans, the black of his gloves. The black of his gun._ "He threw her on the bed and threatened her with a gun."

_Afterwards, she felt pain. She curled on her side and sobbed, trying to forget. And he kept looking at her. Staring. He grabbed her again and dragged her in front of the very mirror she had been before, her make-up scattered everywhere. He made her watch in the mirror as he drew her head back, something glinting in her peripheral vision. She looked to him through the mirror, begging him not to do this. Begging his blue eyes. _"He brought her before the mirror and made her watch as he killed her.

_The last thing she ever saw was those blue eyes and a lock of blond hair that had worked its way free of his hat._ "He has blond hair and blue eyes, approximately six foot tall."

"Akustu doesn't have those features," Kawamura said, somewhat relieved that his friend had been cleared. But then there was the despair. No-one knew someone with those features. No-one had been interviewed by the police with those features.

It was actually Momo that came up with the crack in the case. "Sounds like a gaijin (5)," he said offhandedly, tossing it out to Eiji, who nodded in agreement. Fuji's head shot up when he heard that and exchanged a look with Tezuka.

"Tezuka, did you hear-"

"Yes Fuji," Tezuka said. "Ryuuzaki-sensei?" He turned to her, but she was already on her phone requesting profiles of all the people the victim worked with who had those characteristics.

She snapped her phone shut with an authoritative motion. "They'll be delivered to the local police department. We should get there and arrange a room for us to use." She surveyed her team. "Let's move out."

Like good little ducklings, they all followed her out. On the threshold, Kawamura paused on the threshold and glanced behind him.

"Coming Echizen?" he said, catching the attention of the youngest. The greenish black haired boy turned around and nodded silently.

In utter silence they left the room, walked down the stairs and exited the house of Meino Nanako (6).

* * *

After the near complete silence in the house of Meino Nanako, the hustle and bustle of the police station was quite unbearable. Echizen just took a moment simply standing in the doorway, letting the sounds run over him like water off a duck. Every member of the Seigaku Psi Squad paused for a moment and then sprang into action.

"Tezuka, find me the chief," Ryuuzaki-sensei ordered. "Oishi, Eiji, Momo! Find me a room. Inui, Kaidoh! Get me those files! Kawamura, Echizen, Fuji. Round me up some hands and set up the room."

"Hai!" they all responded and leapt into action. They all broke off into their groups and headed in different directions. Less than ten minutes later, Ryuuzaki-sensei had a room, all her information and a fair few minions, including the chief of the station and the captain of the psi squad.

The chief, who was also the trainer for the squad in the Bunkyo (7)area, was called Banda-sensei, also known as Banji. He was incidentally someone Ryuuzaki-sensei was less than fond of.

"Well, Ryuuzaki-sensei, I didn't think I'd see you here after last time," he said with a perpetual smile on his face. Ryuuzaki-sensei just had a face on like thunder and refused to answer.

"What happened last time?" Momo asked Eiji.

"Oh nothing much. Both Seigaku and Yamabuki were contacted for a case and Yamabuki solved it before we did. Neither we nor Yamabuki felt it was that big of a deal but sensei thought it was."

The captain of Yamabuki, a redhead called Sengoku, smiled happily at the conversation. "Eiji-kun! Great to see you again!"

"Sengoku! How have you been?"

Momo wandered away leaving the two chipper redheads to natter to one another. He glanced over to one corner where Ryuuzaki-sensei and Banji were resolutely not looking at one another. He watched Inui-sempai poring over the computerised files Nanako Meino's company had sent over and his remaining sempai having a quietened discussion in the corner of the room, surreptitiously sneaking glances at Echizen.

"Sensei, the files are here," Inui said.

Ryuuzaki-sensei nodded and began to direct everyone into order. Once they were all seated around the large conference table, Inui set up the projector and started the profiles rolling.

After about twenty minutes of circling, the room in complete silence a voice called out.

"Stop it there!" Echizen voiced. Inui was immediate and paused the cycling of the profiles. On screen, there was an image of an intern worker who was on a transfer from Germany. Liliadent Krauser was on an internship from Germany for one year. He was tall, blond and had blue eyes.

"He certainly fits the profile," Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

"It won't be enough for conviction," Banji said. "It won't even be enough for an arrest."

"What about a psi record?" Kaidoh asked, "record what Echizen saw on the read."

"But even then, I only saw blue eyes and blond hair. Not Krauser's face," Echizen inputted self-depreciatingly.

Inui, who until this time had been typing furiously on his computer, stopped and put up his findings on a computer.

It was an article from a German newspaper, its headline and text stubbornly in Deutsch. Accompanying it, however, was an image that was unmistakably Krauser.

"What does it say?" Eiji asked. They all glanced at one another hoping at least someone else would be able read it.

"I could run it through the online translator," Inui said.

"Man convicted on rape and murder goes free," Tezuka translated. Of course he'd be able to read it after spending time in Germany.

"It says he was released after he became a legal adult after murdering and raping his childhood girlfriend. He was released with no terms of release. He immediately left the country to train in IT."

"Is that enough?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked Banji, knowing the answer herself.

"It's certainly enough for an arrest warrant, with which we can get his DNA to convict him when the CSIs get back their samples," Banji responded, a slightly more sincere smile on his face.

"We'll leave the rest to you then," Ryuuzaki-sensei said and with that, they left in just as much of a whirlwind as they arrived.

When they arrived back at their facility, none of them felt like their usual post-job sushi celebration. To be honest, it wasn't a job they felt like celebrating. There wasn't anything happy about how they felt. Granted the killer had been identified and the case solved. An innocent man had been freed and the CSIs would be well on the way to conviction. But it didn't feel like a victory.

In the end, despite the successes of the case, Meino Nanako was still dead and Echizen would see her eyes for the rest of his life.

* * *

(1) Oyaji: literally "old man". A more informal and "teenage-ish" term of referral to a father.

(2) One thing I always wonder is why it is described as a coppery smell. Surely with the amount of iron in blood compared to the amount of copper it should be an iron smell. Weird huh?

(3) And turned it three times saying the magic words. Such a good Disney film that only us older people know of.

(4) I was taught how to put on make-up by my sister. She was not the most patient of teachers :)

(5) Literally "Foreign Man".

(6) Ok, she's not Echizen's cousin in this. And I'm sorry, I like Nanako as much as the next person but she was the only girl of the right age and I didn't feel like making up an OC. Sorry guys.

(7) In the Bunkyo area, there is a small region called Sengoku. And that's my tedious link.

As always R&R

Bumble x


	16. Chapter 15

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Here's the next chapter for you all and, brace yourselves, I've even written a little oneshot story, so go an check it out. Also, akitty has asked if they can do a story based on the basic plot of the Psi Gene. I've given them permission to use the plot so when it comes out, everyone go and check it out! :)

I don't own anything. And on with the story

* * *

"Don't expect me to be grateful," a voice growled out of the darkness as two pairs of feet steadily made their way down the street. The lights spaced evenly along the roadside illuminated next to nothing, casting the world into a noxious yellow colour. Akin to the yellowing colour of decaying flesh it was a corpse light, cruelly reminding one who walked there of the memories of today.

Thinking back on the day, it wasn't the colour red that remained with him, despite the grotesque artist's best efforts to make it into the only colour he would notice. For some odd reason, what stood out the most was the cheerful yellow ribbon, messily strewn in her hair. A parody of happiness embraced her head carefully in a situation where cheer was the farthest thing from anyone's mind.

Sighing carefully in an attempt to distract himself, he tentatively looked over to his companion. Despite having cleared his name, Akustu Jin looked, for all intents and purposes, upset. A furious scowl was plastered on his face, furrowing his eyebrows and narrowing his pale yellow eyes.

It was that colour again. Yellow.

It was safe to say that Kawamura would hold a dislike for that colour for a long while.

"I wasn't expecting thanks, Jin," Kawamura spoke gently, genuinely seeming as though thanks hadn't entered his thoughts. Jin harrumphed and continued walking. Kawamura smiled and moved alongside him, content in silence. "At least your mother won't worry now."

"Che, like I care about her," Akustu scoffed, managing to look nonchalant and menacing at the same time. Kawamura smiled and continued onwards. They walked in silence, neither one breaking the fragile silence woven by the night. Eventually they reached Akustu's house and he walked up the drive.

Kawamura turned to walk onwards when a whisper reached his ears. It could have been mistaken for a caress of the tempest through the trees however Kawamura knew better.

"Thanks. Don't expect me to say it again."

He looked back over his shoulder and saw Akustu's mother, Yuki, running down the drive to embrace her son. He saw Akustu go stock still in her arms, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Kawamura continued on home, smiling fondly.

'That's the sixteenth time he's said that,' he thought.

He quickly reached the sushi shop, which looked open and in full swing. Ducking under the curtain, he was greeted by a cacophony of noise from each of the patrons trying to be heard over the others. A group of drunken business men were unwinding after work in a corner just as some teenage girls were crowding around something at the rear of the store.

At the bar where his father prepared his food there were some people sat as well. Kawamura could identify at least six regulars among the bunch.

"Takashi!" his father crowed, gesticulating wildly with his razor sharp knife. A few of the customers at the bar looked alarmed and inched away but Kawamura and the regulars were unfazed by this regular occurrence. They simply ducked closer to their chuu-taro and carried on as if nothing had happened.

Kawamura walked around the bar to get changed so he could help when he was stopped with gentle admonishment from his father.

"Not tonight Takashi. Go on upstairs and rest."

He looked at his uncharacteristically stern father and smiled. Walking up the stairs he realised something. Granted, his father wasn't as successful as Tezuka's, nor was he as pushy as Oishi's, but he cared about him.

Given some of the scathing comments delivered by Echizen about his, he could judge that Echizen's father was childish and, according to his littlest kouhai, he didn't _get_ things.

Kawamura could say, hand on heart, that although his father was childish and sometimes strict, he at least _got _it.

He got that he didn't want to smile at people today. He got that he wanted to be alone. He got that it didn't make him less of a father to leave his son in his own hands.

And Kawamura loved him for that.

* * *

"Today we're moving on to homophones (1)," the English teacher at the front of the class stated. He was greeted by groans from the students and a few even looked up towards Kami-sama (2) in prayer. His lessons weren't that bad! Honestly, children these days had no respect for instructors. The poor man could even pinpoint when his life had started to go downhill.

It was when that Echizen from class 1-A came. Then he started to lose the respect from all the other students as well.

Damn him.

He continued onwards anyway, knowing there were some students that respected his teachings and listened and paid attention. And their scores reflected that.

As he was writing his homophones on the board, he heard a yawn from one of the audience. Whipping around, his eyes fell on Momoshirou, mid-way through catching his yawn with his hand.

The other bane of his life. No matter how much he tutored and taught, he was one student who consistently didn't understand the complexities, subtleties and overall purity of the English language (3). He was impossible to teach.

His job was made even harder by the fact that both his problem students were frequently absent. Certainly, Ryuuzaki-sensei was polite enough when it happened but simply the fact it happened was insult enough. Echizen wasn't so bad since he was the highest scorer in his class, but Momoshirou was the worst in his class. To the degree that he was almost flunking the class.

He needed to have a little chat with that boy.

And if all went well, he could torment both of his least favourite students one for knowing too little, one for knowing too much. He smirked wickedly, causing the students in the front rows to inch backwards away from the creepy instructor who was smiling crazily about homophones.

* * *

Momo walked out of his classroom at lunchtime in a daze. He was not rushing to the shop as usual to convince the lady there to serve him his beloved curry pan (4), nor was he in his usual daily argument with Mamushi. In fact, Kaidoh looked confused and a little lost when Momo silently walked past him without a word, be it good or bad.

He walked slowly towards the conference room, the unspoken eating area for the squad members, with his head clouded with what he'd just been told.

His life was over.

Gently he pushed to door open and was met by the conversations from the others. Fuji and Eiji were talking about something or other. Well Eiji was talking more at Fuji than with him from what Momo could tell. His other sempai were eating quietly and calmly along with his kouhai. Echizen managed a complete look of disinterest in his lunch, despite it being a great obentou (5) in Momo's not inexperienced opinion.

Oishi was the first to notice him and cheerfully waved him over. The jaunty wave of his hand faltered mid-air as he saw the forlorn and lost look on Momo's face and Oishi went into Mother Hen Mode™.

"Momo, what happened?" he fretted. His worried call alerted Eiji, who stopped his constant chatter to Fuji. In turn, Fuji turned to look at Momo as well, as did all the others. Momo turned slightly red at the amount of attention he was receiving from the entire squad, barring Kaidoh (who was there) and Echizen (who didn't care).

Brat.

He sat down at one of the tables and Oishi and Eiji crowded him immediately. The others held back tentatively wondering what was happening. Oishi noticed that, whilst Momo wasn't carrying anything edible, he did have a piece of paper in his hands. Gently prying it from a near catatonic Momo's fingers, he quickly skimmed it.

"Oh Momo," he sighed. Eiji's curiosity was immediately piqued and he leant forwards to read over his partner's shoulder.

"Wha-? Momo doesn't have enough credits to pass English?"

"Fshuu, baka," Kaidoh said, overhearing the comment as he entered the room. Echizen was silently agreeing with him.

"What happened Momo?" Kawamura said kindly.

"He called me up after class and said he wanted to talk to me. He said my performance was poor and my marks on the last test weren't enough to gain credits from his class. He said that in order for me to pass, I had to perform like a native speaker on the next test. Which is tomorrow," he bemoaned, his head cradled in his linked hands.

Everyone looked at one another.

"We could tutor you tonight so you understand it," Tezuka offered.

"But what's the percentage for "native speaker"?" Eiji asked confused.

"It's 98% accuracy with grammar and 99% with vocabulary and spelling at Seigaku," Inui intoned in his all-knowing manner.

"Eh? I never score that highly in English. Sorry Momo, I'd be no good as a tutor," Eiji wailed, glomping Oishi, who didn't appear to notice.

Apparently, he'd developed some way to become immune to the Eiji Glomp™. Echizen decided he must know of his secret.

"Neither do I," Fuji said, still smiling but it had an almost melancholy tinge to it.

"Well, if Fuji can't help, none of us can," Tezuka said, "considering he has the highest English mark among us."

Momo actually looked as though he would cry.

"Wait," Kaidoh growled. Everyone turned to him. For some reason, Echizen developed a pit of dread in his stomach at this. He was planning something. Now would be an excellent time to make a swift exit. "There is someone whose marks are high enough to help the Baka."

He turned and pointed his finger at the first year, who froze like a deer in the headlights. Momo and the others looked delighted and he _knew_ that someone somewhere was laughing at him.

He knew he should have stayed in bed when he had the chance.

* * *

That was how it came to be that Echizen and Momo were sat in the street courts that afternoon with numerous text and note books open around them. Momo was sat with an intense look of concentration on his face and Echizen looked generally apoplectic.

"How are you not getting this?" he stated, sounding both exasperated and apathetic at the same time. Momo struggled to find an answer that would satisfy his admittedly scary kouhai.

"It just doesn't want to stay in my head!" he cried back. It was such a shame that they were arguing like this. It was a fine day and it was slightly ruinous to rest of Tokyo to have them shouting.

Eventually, after losing the shouting match, which had been entirely in Japanese, Momo laid back onto the bleacher upon which he was laying. He looked up towards the sky, watching the clouds lazily drifting past. He felt the air move next to him and looked out of the corner of his eye as Echizen lowered himself next to him with a sigh.

He knew it wasn't Echizen's fault that he wasn't getting this but it frustrated him. He felt stupid, so stupid for not getting this and he felt humiliated that his kouhai had to tutor him.

"Sorry Echizen," he said despondently. "I just can't get it."

Echizen stayed silent. "I just can't understand it. The syntax and the grammar are so different. And the language. Do you know how many words there are for red?" Echizen looked at him. "of course you do. But I can't understand it. My brain wasn't built for this."

He fell silent and could feel himself getting depressed. He knew he wasn't smart like the others. But being on the squad made him feel accepted and happy. Even his verbal spars with Kaidoh were enjoyable. If that was taken away from him, he wouldn't know what he would do. He didn't have much else outside of his family.

'Mada mada dane.'

He heard it in his head, spiralling around endlessly in a reverberating drumbeat. He didn't know if Echizen had put the thought in his head just now or if he was remembering it from a previous conversation but it echoed round and round, percussing it's meaning into his mind.

He looked at Echizen who was staring at the sky and he could feel a burgeoning feeling of determination. He opened his mouth to thank Echizen when a gust of cold breeze blew over him. He gasped at the freezing quality of it and looked down at his clothing. All his outer clothes had been dusted with ice crystals, a rime of frost covering his jacket.

He and Echizen exchanged a look at the sudden change and warily stood.

"Who are you and why are you in ore-sama's courts?"

* * *

The rest of the squad stood still in shock as they entered the conference room they frequently commandeered for their lunch. All the third years and Kaidoh stood frozen as they watched what was happening in front of their eyes.

"Is everyone else seeing this?" Kawamura asked unsurely and received a round of nods in response.

"Ow! Eiji!" Oishi yelped as Eiji pinched him on the arm, "Why did you do that?"

"Well, I had to check it wasn't a dream and it would have hurt if I had pinched myself," he chirped happily. "It is real by the way."

They watched as Echizen and Momo sat next to one another, heads leaned close together as Echizen patiently talked Momo through the intricacies of homophones.

Now, a number of things were wrong with his picture, beginning with Echizen and Momo close to one another, with no arguing.

And Echizen was being patient. Echizen and patient hated one another about as much as Echizen and early.

It was wrong in so many ways, but it was actually happening in front of their eyes. One of those "see it to believe it" moments.

"Ok Momo, use one of the homophones in a sentence," Echizen said.

"The cat and the dog ate their food," Momo shakily replied in slightly accented English.

"And how is that one spelt?"

"T-H-E-I-R," Momo said, only slightly unsure about the spelling. Echizen nodded encouragingly and Momo punched the air in success.

"The test is tomorrow right?" Oishi asked and Tezuka nodded.

"They seem to be making progress," Inui commented.

"Momo's trying really hard," Eiji said seriously.

"Well, he has to pass or he won't have enough credits to stay on the squad," Fuji reminded everyone. They watched as Momo fumbled with the spelling of "here" and Echizen playfully hit him upside the head.

"Pay attention Momo. You don't want to fail now do you?" Echizen said and Momo seemed to sit straighter and a fire of determination was lit in his eyes.

The others wondered what had happened the other day.

* * *

"_Who are you and why are you in ore-sama's courts?"_

_In front of them, a tall person stood with his hand outstretched. He was surrounded by a swirl of ice crystals, clearly the source of the ice they were blasted with. His purple hair was flipped at an angle and his grey eyes were cold and arrogant. He was accompanied by a tall hulking figure who was carrying his and the other person's baggage._

"_Atobe," Momo murmured and Echizen looked at him. "Atobe and Kabaji of Hyoutei."_

_Echizen's eyes lit up in understanding. "Ah, Hyoutei. I think I turned them down when I came here."_

_Atobe's eyes darted to Echizen at those words. "Turned down? Wait, you're Echizen Ryoma?"_

_The little black haired boy nodded and Atobe was suddenly in front of him, grasping his hand to shake._

"_I am Atobe Keigo, captain of the Hyoutei squad. You should leave the losers Seigaku and join my wonderful squad," he said self-importantly._

_Echizen just gave him a look. Nowhere near The Look__ but a close variation of it that had been known to make lesser men and criminals weep, sob and wet themselves. Admirably, Atobe kept control of his bladder and lacrimal glands (6) but he did lose some of the puff in his chest._

"_Why would he want to join a squad run by an egotistical peacock such as yourself?" Momo asked and Echizen almost laughed. _

"_I was thinking more along the lines of Monkey King," he said and Momo guffawed._

_Atobe wilted a little but regained his stride when he looked upon the notebook scattered across the bleachers. He approached them and picked one of them up. He deciphered the subject very quickly. _

"_Ah, English. Such an easy subject," he said, "ne, Kabaji?"_

"_Usu (7)" Atobe's companion intoned expressionlessly._

_Atobe suddenly got a rather evil gleam in his eyes._

"_Why are you studying so hard? Seigaku has no exams at the moment so it must be a make-up test." He knew he was right when Momo flushed a shade of red mostly seen in flowers or fire engines. _

"_Ah. It is isn't it? Now, what could be at stake?" he stared at the Seigaku members for a moment. "Your place in the squad. You'll lose it if you fail, won't you?"_

"_How'd you-" Momo started but was silenced by Echizen._

"_Why do you care?" he said disinterestedly._

"_Well, I can't have Seigaku getting any worse now can I? After all, it is already so far beneath Hyoutei that it can't get much worse without being a complete laughing stock," Atobe stated, like a King addressing a poor peasant. Echizen and Momo bristled at the comment about their squad._

_It continued along these lines for a while, with Atobe throwing insults about Seigaku and the others getting riled up. _

"_Seigaku is not a worthless squad!" Momo cried._

"_Prove it," Atobe smirked, "if you can't pass this test, you are as worthless as your squad."_

"_I'll pass it alright," Momo growled, "and Echizen will help me."_

"_Why should I care about it?" Echizen said, "I and the rest of the world know that Momo's idiocy is not representative of Seigaku's squad."_

"_Perhaps we could raise the stakes," Atobe said._

"_You're on!" Momo replied._

"_Alright, since you're interested. If you pass the test, Hyoutei will entertain Seigaku at their grounds for a few matches. If you fail, your little telepath here will transfer to Hyoutei and join our squad."_

"_Deal!"_

"_Wait! Don't I get a say in all this?" Echizen said incredulously, somewhat astounded they had agreed his future without his input._

"_It has already been agreed upon," Atobe said. He turned and started to walk away with Kabaji following him. _

"_I'll be seeing you soon Echizen." And he was gone._

_Momo sighed with relief that he was gone and relaxed a bit. Suddenly, he was aware of a black cloud developing next to him. Warily, he looked at the little telepath next to him and waited for the eruption of the storm._

"_BAKA!"_

_Ten minutes later, after Echizen had finished his tirade, they were sat next to one another in silence. Both were tired and exhausted. Suddenly, Echizen stood._

"_Well, there is nothing else for it then. I have to teach you English within two days," he said and Momo was shocked he'd agreed to it. As if suspecting what he was thinking (Echizen __**was**__ a telepath), his kouhai spoke out._

"_After all, there is no way I am spending more time than necessary with that Monkey King."_

* * *

The whole squad was on tenterhooks as they waited for Momo to leave his English class and come to the conference room. Echizen had told them of the bet and now they were waiting with bated breath to hear their littlest kouhai's fate.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked open and Momo entered, looking so despondent and down that Echizen's heart actually skipped a few beats.

"How did it go Momo?" Kawamura tentatively asked.

* * *

(1) Once again, not intending to insult you, but homophones are words that sound the same but are spelt differently. Like "Their", "There" and "They're"

(2) God

(3) OK. I'll give him complex, as English is a complex language, and it can be subtle with enough flowery words, but pure? A wonderful quote about English language from James Nicoll is: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a crib house whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary"

(4) Curry bread

(5) The packed lunch boxes taken to school/work. Much more effort goes into them than certainly the ones I take to work

(6) Tear glands

(7) Yes

As always

R&R

Bumble x


	17. Chapter 16

Righteo. Another update. And I haven't made you wait for about 3 months. Aren't you lucky?

I have to say, I don't think I've ever been threatened this much, and I've stuck really large tubes into generally uncomfortable places on people. You were all threatening me about the last chapter :(

Once again, ANs are at the end and I don't own anything.

* * *

_He felt nothing. It could have been hot or cold, he didn't know. He tried to pinch himself to check whether he was asleep or not, but he couldn't feel his hand move so he didn't know where it was. Pressure, temperature, proprioception (1), vibration, pain, he felt none of them._

_It was dark as well. He couldn't see anything, just infinite blackness in front of him. Hearing was gone and smell and taste were absent. _

_And he felt scared. He was used to a high degree of sensory input, especially given how highly active his psychic centres were. To suddenly have them switched off terrified him. It was the reason he wouldn't let Fuji touch him since he had the ability to switch them off._

_He thought he turned his head from side to side to try and see what was around him, but with no change in sight or sound, he couldn't tell._

_He began to get a little panicked. He could tell his heart rate was increasing, as was his breathing. He strained to see anything, hear anything, feel anything._

_And then he heard it._

"_It's been nice, boya (2); one of your friends will wake you up now. Let's do it again sometime."_

* * *

It was a warm and sunny day as the mini bus made its way down the blackened tarmac, amid stagnant air and hazy convection currents. He desperately tried to ignore the group of rowdy teenagers who occupied his bus today as they proceeded to destroy the only thing he enjoyed about his job: silence.

Glancing in his rear view mirror, he could see that there were at least five boys crowded around another as much as the seats and belts would let them. The centre of attention was a tall dark haired boy with violet eyes who was blushing furiously at the attention. He didn't seem to dislike it however.

The poor driver looked back towards the road but couldn't keep his eyes from flitting back to the boys every so often. He watched as the black haired boy turned redder and redder as the others, particularly the redhead, poured copious amounts of praise upon him. There was even a piece of paper floating around the bus, which he'd managed a sneaky look at before they set off. Something about 99%. He saw as the boy with the bandanna scoffed in disgust.

"Fshuu, it's not that big of a deal," he growled and the instantly, the violet eyed one scowled and turned as much as he could in his seat so he could argue back. He wasn't sure what happened next, but both the scary one with the bandanna and the violet eyed one went ash white and suddenly fell silent. He didn't see exactly what happened since his attention was needed on the road. Apparently, there was a driver in another car that wanted his lane. Well, we'll see about that. When his eyed darted back to the two boys, they were simultaneously held their heads in their hands as if they were both struck with a headache at the same time.

He felt the wheels moving differently over the tarmac so he couldn't keep watching as there was a particularly tricky bit of manoeuvring he had to do -even if he did say so himself- involving a camber and a hill start at the same time. When he looked back, he managed to find the reason for the two boys' discomfort.

Apparently, their quarrelling had awoken the seatmate of the boy with the bandanna and, judging from their responses, he wasn't the nicest person when awoken. In fact, considering that he heard a growl where he was sat at the front of the bus, he would compare the awoken one to his wife when she was woken early or by accident. To make a growl audible across that distance was an achievement and would clearly reflect the vocaliser's feelings.

He couldn't help it. He had to laugh.

That laughter was made even more pronounced when he finally caught sight of who had made the growl and managed to quieten the two, quite obvious, rivals. That little thing? That small, grumbly boy had inspired such a reputation into the others that they feared for their lives when he was awoken.

It made his day. And it thoroughly made up for the fact that he was currently driving up the ridiculously long drive to Hyoutei Psi Facility.

* * *

When the Seigaku Psi Squad departed the bus, all were a little uncomfortable. Eiji was especially so as he crowded Oishi and practically walked on his heels to escape the strangely laughing driver. He'd been laughing for the entire time they had driven down the driveway to Hyoutei and it was creepy. In Eiji's opinion, unless you were extraordinarily optimistic, spontaneous outbursts of laughter were strange and should be avoided unless you actually wanted people to one: think you were insane and two: give you a wide berth as if you had a contagious disease.

To be short, extemporaneous bursts of laughter should be averted unless you were him.

Unprovoked laughter was almost expected of him after all. He was just that kind of guy (3).

He was one of the first the leave the bus and stood, bouncing impatiently upon his tip-toes, waiting for the others to disembark. He grasped Oishi's shoulders as he hopped from toe to toe. Oishi didn't mind. Oishi never minded when Eiji did things like this.

It was one of the reasons Eiji adored being around him. He could be as hyperactive as he wanted to be, bounding around like a child with ADHD (4) on a sugar high and Oishi would just smile at him and wait for him to calm down. Everyone else, even his family, would tell him to stop or shut up, but Oishi was patient with him.

It was a two way relationship. Eiji loved Oishi's patience, letting him bounce as much as he wanted and Oishi had once told him that Eiji was a good ground. He had been told many times, often in an insulting way, that he was simple. His emotions were simple. Eiji is someone who says what is on his mind and, according to Oishi, is emotions are genuine. He is rarely down, depressed or serious. Given their line of work, they were surrounded by negative emotions so Eiji was "an emotional pick me up for empaths" as Oishi once told him.

Eiji liked that. He liked that he was helping someone, especially Oishi, by just being him. He didn't have to pretend to be smarter or better with Oishi. Oishi appreciated him for just being him and Eiji, well, he did the same for Oishi.

When the last of the squad left the bus –'Finally,' Eiji thought- they proceeded to try and find their host.

Who was sure to be gracious and welcoming, Eiji was certain. As welcome as a dog in a game of skittles (5).

They approached the door and, in an executive decision, it was decided that Ryuuzaki-sensei and Tezuka would handle the pleasantries. Eiji's had whipped back and forth as they walked up to the front door, taking in the lovely scenery of the woods and trees that enclosed the entrance of the facility. It made it harder to get to but was certainly more interesting to look at compared to the approach to their facility. As soon as he thought it, Eiji immediately felt a bit traitorous for the thought. And a bit guilty.

"Everything ok Eiji?" Oishi asked, having picked up on Eiji's emotions. It was another development that occurred due to the extended periods of time they spent with one another. Other developments were an intimate knowledge of what the other wanted and a massive abuse of each other's families. Oishi's mother was an amazing cook and Oishi keeps insisting that Eiji's mother was a much better at haberdashery than his own.

"Nothing Oishi. I'm fine," he responded, comforting himself slightly with a brief glance over to his favouritist, cuddly telepath to make sure he hadn't noticed. Luckily, his youngest kouhai was trapped in the middle of an argument between his other two kouhais. It was a great change from earlier this morning when Momo was practically bowing to Echizen in gratitude. Eiji had even heard Momo promising to compensate Ochibi with burgers at a later date.

Having seen Ochibi eat, Eiji realised how truly thankful Momo was. Ochibi looked a little down; maybe something had happened whilst he was sleeping. Eiji vowed to cheer him up soon. After all, nothing cheers people up like a huggle (6).

They reached the entrance, which Eiji thought was a little pretentious. It was a pair of highly polished, highly varnished double doors, set in a stone building. It looked like it belonged in a fairy tale, right down to the lion shaped iron knocker and certainly looked misplaced at a facility for a group of psis. Ryuuzaki-sensei reached the doors first and knocked using the lion knocker. It was answered barely a second later by a dour looking person in a suit who looked like he had forgotten how to smile.

"They have butlers here?" Momo asked a little incredulously.

Echizen's scathingly loud reply was "I always knew the Monkey King was too stupid to do anything for himself."

Eiji had to stop himself from laughing aloud at the comment. He couldn't contain his amusement in all areas however and Oishi looked at him and smiled. The other member of the team who was able to pick up on this was Echizen. And he had, given how his lips had quirked up at the corner.

After Ryuuzaki-sensei convinced the stern looking man to let them enter, they were instructed to follow behind him. They did indeed follow, down long corridors decorated with wooden panels and oil paintings. It seemed more like a castle or a very expensive western home. Eiji thought that Hyoutei's income must have been much larger the Seigaku's for them to be able to afford this. Eventually, the long corridor terminated at another set of double doors. The butler (whom Eiji had named Jeeves in his head) opened them after a polite knock.

Inside was a room Eiji personally fell in love with. It was a large room with a few black leather settees (7) positioned in front of a very large plasma television and various games consoles. There were some brightly coloured beanbag chairs in the corner with some board games stacked nearby. Along one wall there were tables set up. Table tennis, snooker tables, air hockey and a darts board. And, cleverly tucked away in a corner, was a bar. Eiji would have loved a room like this in Seigaku's facility but, for some reason, he couldn't see his proposal getting very far with the budgetary committee.

There were some pitfalls to the room. One was that it wasn't theirs, so they couldn't use anything in there. Two was that they weren't there to play. And the last pitfall was sat on the three sofas in the room, three people were sat on two couches and two were sat on the remaining one in the middle of their u shaped arrangement. Eiji recognised the people as Hyoutei's squad. He felt an inquisitive presence in his mind and realised Ochibi didn't know anyone barring Atobe and vaguely Kabaji.

'I'll help you out Ochibi,' Eiji cheerfully thought to him and though he received no outward response from his kouhai, the presence lingered in his mind, waiting for answers. Eiji looked around the couches, naming them for Echizen's benefit. 'The couch on the left has Shishido Ryou, Ohtori Choutaro and Akutagawa Jirou, the middle one has Kabaji Munehiro and the Monkey King as you call him and the last couch is Hiyoshi Wakashi, Oshitari Yuushi and Gakuto Mukahi.'

'…..Thanks.'

"You're welcome Ochibi," Eiji chirped aloud and grabbed his little Ochibi. He couldn't help it. Ochibi was just so cuddly and glompable.

Apparently, Eiji's excitability had attracted the attention of their hosts, who turned away from the television, which had been showing some kind of anime about tennis players. They silently turned around and Gakuto, whose eyes alighted onto Eiji, immediately became argumentative.

"Che, such an uncivilised person," the only other person with hair as red as Eiji's said in a disgusted tone. Eiji, being the passionate type of person he was, was immediately offended. His hackles rose and Echizen could almost see the hairs on the back of Eiji's neck standing on end, like the swelling of an angry cat. He stopped glomping Echizen and dropped him like a hot potato so that he could turn around and have at Gakuto.

Fortunately for everyone involved, Oishi managed to grasp Eiji around his upper arms before he literally launched himself at the, in Eiji's opinion, annoying redhead. He couldn't prevent the redhead in his arms from yelling at the other one. Thankfully, Oshitari managed to grab Gakuto before he could leap at Eiji but the situation quickly developed into a shouting match between the two with Oshitari and Oishi caught in the middle. They exchanged exasperated looks with each other over the actions of their friends.

Their loud voices had drawn the Hyoutei coach out of a small office that branched off the side of the room. He was a tall, well-to-do man who looked like he had as much of a laugh as Tezuka.

"Ryuuzaki-sensei," he said with no inflection in his tone. Ryuuzaki-sensei and Tezuka both broke away from the group and walked towards him.

"Sakaki-sensei," she replied.

Fuji sidled up to the younger members of the team, who were looking on the shouting match in surprise. They'd never seen Eiji-sempai lose his temper before so this was an extremely new experience for them. "Eiji and Gakuto have a little bit of a rivalry going on ever since they used to play tennis against one another when they were little. Both of them played a similar style so they were always competing. Then, when Eiji developed his psi talent, Gakuto wouldn't even spend time with him anymore and he moved to this area."

"Eiji was very upset," Kawamura piped in. "He and Gakuto, despite their rivalry, were good friends and he was hurt when Gakuto basically ostracised him because of his talent."

"Remind you of anyone?" Echizen murmured under his breath looking at the two second years. Everyone else chuckled, barring Eiji, who was still glaring at Gakuto, Oishi and Oshitari, who were too busy holding them back from pulling the other's hair and Tezuka, who was standing and discussing matters with Ryuuzaki-sensei and Sakaki-sensei.

"Thankfully, Oishi and Tezuka moved soon after that and Oishi took Eiji under his wing, so to speak," Inui said, with his infernal book open in front of him.

Momo and Kaidoh looked a bit put out that their happy-go-lucky sempai had actually been the victim of psi prejudice in the past.

"It's a cruel kind of irony that Gakuto now has a psi talent," Momo said, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "What is his talent anyway?" he asked Inui, the fountain of all knowledge, who smiled darkly.

"Well, he can control lunar phenomenon."

There was a pause and then, Momo let out a peal of laughter that attracted the attention of everyone, including the two warring redheads. "What kind of stupid power is that?"

"Baka," Echizen said and Gakuto stopped trying to grab Eiji in favour for trying to claw Momo's eyes out.

"I'm going to have to agree with Echizen on this one Momo," Fuji smirked. "It might sound like a weak talent but the moon is a lot more powerful than you think."

"Fuji's right. Since ancient times, the moon has been said to unbalance water in all forms, including water in the brain," Inui recited.

"Fshuu, it can make you crazy," Kaidoh spoke.

"Yes, that's why people say strange things happen during full moons," Inui replied. "Gakuto uses his power in that way. His "Moon Salute" basically unhinges someone's brain to make them his slaves. To worship or "salute" the moon."

Momo looked like there was someone in the world who spooked him out more than Echizen. "Ok Echizen. He's all yours."

"Logically speaking, Echizen, Tezuka, Oishi or Eiji would be the best people to challenge Gakuto," Inui said after conferring with his notebook.

"What about the others Inui?" Kawamura asked. Inui opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a haughty voice that sent shivers down Echizen's spine.

"What are we doing back here then?" they turned and saw Atobe standing there in all his perceived glory with Kabaji stood barely a foot behind him. There was something about Atobe that just grated on Echizen and he felt _wrong_. He didn't know what it was but something about him felt strange, like he wasn't quite right. He wasn't sure what it was but Echizen didn't like it. And Echizen was not afraid to speak his mind to anyone. His English teacher would attest to that.

"Ah, the purple peacock. What don't you go and slime the other side of the room?" he said and was immediately met with a series of guffaws from the others on that side of the room.

Atobe didn't blush at the comment; Atobe's did not blush in any way. He did "delicately flush", as his mother terms it, at the scathing comment and accompanying laughter. He was a little put out, after all, Sakaki-sensei had asked if he could try and change Echizen's mind about his choice of facility. He had tried this in the park the other day but, given how well received his presence was, he vowed to just make Echizen's life horrific, regardless of whether he moved or not.

"Like such a small brat like you could order someone as magnificent as me around," he crowed with a hand pressed delicately against his chest (8). He watched as the "small brat" in question hunched in on himself and scowled enough to make grown men cry. Not just any grown men, however. The Sanada clan. Yes, it would make them cry; and for those stoic people, that was an _achievement_.

"Maa, maa," Fuji placated despite the wide grin on his face that showed he was greatly enjoying this, "let's play nice." He said this loud enough to garner the attention of both warring parties on either side of the room.

"Fuji's right. Everyone should try and get along," Kawamura said so genuinely that no-one had the heart to tell him that they just weren't in the mood for "playing nicely". Grudgingly however, they all slowly dropped their aggressive poses and angry insults died on their tongues so as not to anger the usually gentle pyrokinetic (9).

There was a sound of clapping hands echoing around the room and all turned to the sound. Ryuuzaki-sensei was stood, with her palms together, looking highly unimpressed. Most of the members of her team –and a few that weren't- gulped fearfully.

She stood in front of the two crowds of boys and simply raised one eyebrow. The effect was immediate and fifteen of the younger, stronger men fell in to hastily constructed lines, snapping to attention. The only ones who did not were Tezuka, as he was stood with Ryuuzaki-sensei, and Atobe, as she wasn't his coach, he was the same rank as Tezuka and she didn't scare him. Really, she didn't.

"Right, as you know, this training session was arranged between us," she began and all those who knew her were aware of the "however" lingering on her lips.

"However, Sakaki-sensei was just telling me of something more pressing. Instead of allowing the training session to go ahead, he would like our help in something in Hyoutei's workload that has been bothering him."

Momo was paying strict attention to the speech when he felt it. A small nudge in his lower back. He thought nothing of it; perhaps his clothing was simply sitting wrong, but then he felt it again. Glancing behind himself, he saw a small thin finger attached to a small hand which was connected to a small kouhai. He raised a curious eyebrow, wondering what brought on this voluntary tactile contact from Echizen.

'Find out what,' he heard whispered in his mind.

'You mean you don't know?' he questioned back and Echizen's cheeks turned a delicate shade of rosy pink.

'I can't get in for some reason. I can always get into Ryuuzaki-sensei's mind,' was the sullen response.

Deciding not to push it, Momo dutifully raised his hand in the air. He dutifully asked the question and even more dutifully waited for a reply, never letting on that it wasn't him that wanted to know the answer. Well, he did, but clearly wasn't as upset about the lack of knowledge as Echizen was.

But Ryuuzaki-sensei, in her all-knowing, all seeing way, somehow knew. Her omniscient gaze slid down to Echizen, who was almost completely shielded from view by Momo and she frowned. However, like Momo, she made no comment on it. Aloud at least.

"The job is something of major importance and has far reaching consequences."

"What, reaching up to Hokkaido?" Eiji, as loveable as he was, was not the brightest button in the box. Oishi smiled fondly.

Ryuuzaki-sensei smirked. "More like reaching to the United Kingdom and the United States of America." She waited for the penny to drop in their minds. Fuji, Oshitari and Echizen immediately understood it and a few more weren't that far behind. Momo and Jirou were a little slower on the uptake and it showed on their faces. Or Jirou could have been moments from falling asleep again, it was hard to tell.

"What are you on about, Baa-san (10)?"

"Fshuu, she's talking about the International Psi Council," Kaidoh hissed in annoyance.

Ryuuzaki-sensei's smirk turned a little bit evil. "That's right. Someone has seen fit to threaten the International Council and it is now our combined job to stop that threat from being carried out."

* * *

(1) Proprioception is the position sense of your limbs. It's how you can tell whether your arm is in the air or by your side. It is also why sometimes you get that jolt through your body when you walk down the stairs and you're convinced there is another step there but there isn't.

(2) Boya is the Japanese pronunciation for boy. Fun fact: did you know that in the Japanese language, the only consonant used at the end of a word is "n"? All the other words finish in vowels.

(3) I have nothing against random bursts of laughter. I personally think the world would be a better place if everyone laughed at least once a day, however, I have learned that people do look at you a little bit strangely when you seem to be laughing for no apparent reason. I once burst into hysterical laughter when I saw a plush badger (remembering a comment during a Doctor Who interview) and everyone else in the shop did back away from me slightly. It was funny though (to me anyway). "I shall call him Charlie. Hi, I'm a badger". It's only funny if you were there.

(4) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Not to be confused with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

(5) This is the original quote from Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace: "Ils m'ont reçu avec ma nouvelle, comme un chien dans un jeu de quills". It's an idiom that doesn't translate very well to English, but the closest equivalent I can find is "As welcome as a dog in a game of skittles". Skittles is an outdoor version of bowling (I think) as well as a form of confectionary.

(6) Huggles are great. They are a cross between a hug and a cuddle and are one step below a glomp in terms of tightness. Everyone give somebody else a huggle today

(7) I'm not sure if settee is just an English thing, but it is a couch/sofa.

(8) I'm thinking... Tamaki from Ouran. Anyone else?

(9) I like this term a lot more than firestarter. I think I'll use this one from now onwards.

(10) I've seen this have many translations, but in this context, it means "Old Lady" but had slightly more respectful connotations in Japanese.

As always, R&R

Bumble x


	18. Chapter 17

Right guys a few bits of new before we begin.

1. FINALS are in three weeks, so this WILL be the last update until I am (hopefully) a doctor. I have decided to be very hard on myself to the extent that I am getting someone to change the settings on my computer so it doesn't let me onto this site until after exams. That is the brutal truth.

2. To make it even worse, I have been struck by all these ideas for new stories, which sucks. I have always said to myself that I will not write a new story until I finish the first. That changed with "The Falling of Small Stones" and has led me to dreaming up new multichapter fics. Sucks. So watch this space. My fic count may increase before my chapter count does.

3. Apologies for the lack of review responses. It has been really hectic but I WILL answer them...eventually :)

4. I don't own PoT. As always, ANs are at the end.

* * *

Sakamoto Miroku was a second year student at Hyoutei Psi Facility. When he got into the first class facility, his mother and sister were extremely proud of him. Neither being especially clever, not especially rich, for him to attend such a facility was a miracle. Well, his talent helped as well. In his family, the males were the ones who had the psi talent. Miroku was never any good with biology but it had something to do with a Y chromosome dependent activation. What was his talent, you say?

His talent manifested as the ability to manipulate probabilities. He could consciously make things more or less likely to happen depending on his mood.

Say for instance, the weatherman said there was a ten percent chance of rain that day. Miroku could change that to a 99 percent chance. Most would just blame this on the weatherman but he and Hyoutei knew differently.

He attended all the matches Hyoutei had with other teams and all their cases even though he wasn't on the team _per se_. His father had always drummed into him the importance of neutrality, but he stretched it a little so he could be a member of Hyoutei but not on their team officially. He also occasionally did some freelance work. That didn't mean he didn't help out. Of course, since he wasn't part of the squad, he couldn't get time out of lessons for these things, but he just excused himself and went to them anyway. His teachers didn't mind and he was clever enough to keep up his grade average. Not astoundingly intelligent, you understand, but just enough.

So it was a little bit of a shock when he was happily sat in his classroom, content in the knowledge of his helpfulness to the squad, until he heard it. It was just a whisper around the classroom, a caress of a rumour that passed from student to student in a cascade. When it reached Miroku, he had to admit he was shocked, a little hurt but mostly angry. He raised his hand to demand a bathroom pass from his instructor and stormed down the corridor to the psi conference room as angrily as he could.

"Seigaku are here for a practice match". Not without him influencing the outcome they weren't.

* * *

The conference room at Hyoutei Psi Facility was remarkable similar to the one at Seigaku but, in all fairness, how different could conference rooms be? It held almost exactly the same table in it, with the same chairs. The only major difference was the extremely large chandelier hanging from the roof, its jewels twinkling in the light to produce a migraine inducing haze of sparkle.

Echizen hated it the moment he saw it.

Atobe flounced his way to the head of the table, much to the horror of the Seigaku students. What would Ryuuzaki-sensei say if one of them did that? They could all imagine their ears bleeding from the verbal abuse they would receive should they ever do something that was on a par with Atobe's actions.

Sakaki-sensei appeared to be used to this kind of behaviour and neglected to find himself a chair in favour of leaning against one of the walls next to the projector screen. He crossed his arms and, with his stoic face, he looked a great deal like Tezuka. When everyone else had filed in and sat down, he removed a remote from his blazer pocket and began his, undoubtedly, well prepared presentation.

"The International Psi Council contacted us yesterday with regards to a universal threat made against their lives," he began, leaping straight into the topic with little regard for the niceties of conversation openings. The projector showed an image of the International Psi Council Headquarters, which were situated right next to the United Nations Headquarters in Turtle Bay, New York.

"Wait, does this mean we're going to America?" Momo asked

"Baka," Echizen said, making use of his favourite "nickname" for Momo. "They don't always meet there."

Ryuuzaki-sensei took over at this point. "That's right. Every year they meet to discuss international psi issues regarding legislation or particular cases involving misuse of powers. And every year, they meet in a different location. No-one outside of the countries representatives knows this location and they are bound by secrecy."

"Is there anything that holds them to their word?" Fuji inquired. All were silent as they didn't know the intimacies of what held their secrets.

"They could be using a Sword of Damocles," Echizen mused aloud. All turned their eyes to Echizen in confusion. Few knew about the International Psi Council and even fewer knew about the measures taken to keep things confidential.

"Ok, I'll be the stupid one," Momo sighed when he realised that no-one was going to make any inquiry into what he was on about, "what is a Sword of Damocles?"

Echizen was silent for a moment. He didn't like speaking aloud. Freudianally speaking, it could probably be tracked back to his childhood; growing up in a silent household would do that to someone. But he knew he didn't want to talk into the minds of everyone present. Not only would it wear him out but he would be exposing a great advantage to people he didn't know if he did.

"Damocles' sword is a reference back to the Greek anecdote (1). It was something that was created to act as a mental sword against someone if they broke the terms of the contract. In this case, the representatives could be contracted not to let slip the whereabouts of any meeting. If they did, their mind would be locked down and a tracer activated. The person who issued the sword could then track them down."

"How do you know so much about this Echizen?" Inui asked, just a slight trace of annoyance creeping into his tone. Even he didn't know about this security measure. Echizen remained silent and didn't answer.

"You've met the council haven't you?" Fuji said, eyes opening. It was more of a statement than a question and the others picked up on it as well.

"Well, considering he is the world's first level ten, did you think he wouldn't have?" Ryuuzaki-sensei scowled. "I believe Echizen would have been the one who designed and created the sword." Again, everyone gaped at the youngest one present, especially those from Hyoutei. They were aware that he was a level ten but were generally unaware of the extent of his prowess. Here was someone who the International Council trusted enough to put them in a psychic noose and he was scowling and calling Atobe names like "Monkey King" and "Peacock".

The world was doomed.

"Echizen," Ryuuzaki-sensei barked, "are you aware of any breaches in your sword?" Echizen shook his head.

"So, we have established that the breach cannot have come from the representatives themselves. Other alternatives?" Sakaki-sensei said.

"What measures are there to prevent a high level telepath like Echizen from getting the location?" Ohtori asked, with an apologetic nod in Echizen's direction to indicate that there was no malice behind his words. Echizen wanted to be annoyed and hold a grudge but he could. From what he'd seen, Ohtori was just too nice to be angry at. That, coupled with the fact that one Shishido Ryou was glaring at him.

"No, they are high ranking officials, they would have some kind of protection against that," Atobe said with a negligent wave of his hand. "They probably use a neural dampener (2) until their time in office has ended."

"He's right," Sakaki-sensei said, "although, I imagine something like that wouldn't stop someone like Echizen if he actually tried right?" he said, looking at the little telepath.

"I've never actually tried to use my power against someone wearing one actually," he said apathetically. Here, Ryuuzaki-sensei simply pulled down her collar and showed that she had one on behind her ear. Everyone gaped, but none more so than Echizen as he recalled that he couldn't access her mind earlier. Had he actually been defeated by this little piece of metal designed to stop level sevens?

"So Echizen, can you read my mind?" Ryuuzaki-sensei said. "I have high mental walls and, whilst wearing this, you only have a 30 percent chance of accessing my mind."

Echizen frowned, as did Tezuka. 30 percent was still a lot for someone like Echizen, who had done things that had an incalculable probability of success. Something else was happening here. Something no-one else knew.

It was then that he felt it. A flicker along the barrier he'd surreptitiously set up at the beginning of the meeting to make it silenced beyond the room. It rippled along the surface until it reached him. There was someone outside.

Silently, he crossed the room, distracting some people from watching Echizen and he opened the door. There stood a mousey brown haired boy with completely nondescript features, who had, until a few seconds previously, had his ear pressed against the door.

Tezuka had no idea who this was but Sakaki-sensei obviously recognised him as his eyes widened a fraction and he stood up straight.

"Sakamoto," he began, "what are you doing here?"

"I thought you might need me in the practice match against Seigaku," he said, in a rather oily voice.

"When have we ever needed your help?" Shishido scoffed angrily. He couldn't believe that this little tag along thought they needed him. He was one of the scholarship students that Hyoutei took. His power was a little useful, he'd admit, but as soon as anyone knew someone was messing with the probabilities, they could beat it. Also, it was classified as fixing if it was used in an official match.

Wait, that must be why Echizen was struggling.

"Echizen," he called, surprising many as it was unexpected for him to address anyone politely, especially those whose names weren't Ohtori Choutarou. "This guy is messing with your probabilities."

Echizen frowned and then an enlightened look dawned on his face. He turned back to Ryuuzaki-sensei, who immediately gasped at the sensation of her youngest psi in her mind. Clearly, 30 percent was too high for Echizen.

Fuji and Eiji kept their eyes on the newcomer. How dare he mess with Echizen/Ochibi when they had dibs on him? Their eyes promised pain.

"Sakaki-sensei, is this one of your team?" Fuji purred. The copper haired man shook his head.

"He is no concern of mine."

"Then excuse me for one moment. He and I need to have a little chat." And Fuji left the room, the unsuspecting nobody in tow.

Poor boy. He would never be the same again.

"Sakaki-sensei, what rank was that boy?" Tezuka asked.

"Level four, why?"

"No reason." It was wrong for a level four to affect Echizen's power so much that he was unable to do something he'd set his mind to. If it had been a level eight or nine, that Tezuka could understand, but a level four influencing Echizen's chances? It was akin to a man trying to change the direction of a fast flowing river. It wasn't doable alone. He must have had help, but from who?

'Agreed. Someone is helping him. And I'll find out,' Echizen spoke into his mind, undoubtedly coming to the same conclusions he had. No-one could deny that Echizen was sharp and quick-witted. He was sure to track the source, so Tezuka left it with him.

For now.

Thinking nothing of Tezuka's introspective pose or Echizen's silence, the discussion on how to tackle the latest threat continued. No-one paid any mind to Fuji when he walked back in and resumed his seat about ten minutes later. The only change was when Sakaki-sensei paused his dialogue to remove a mobile phone and call something called "Clean-Up Crew".

"So, we know the breach in knowledge can't have come from the officials and we've established that it takes a very high level telepath to break the neural dampeners," Inui said, jotting notes in his book. "What other ways are there?"

All were silent for a while, with no-one offering forth ideas. In fact, the one to break the silence wasn't even awake. Having gotten bored with the proceedings, Jirou had nodded off with his head pillowed onto his crossed arms. He was sat in a corner, quietly snoring away, unnoticed by the rest until one unfortunate moment he spoke in his sleep. Or rather, yelled.

"I want peanuts (3)!"

Everyone's heads whipped around to where the loud call had come from. Momo had even half-risen from his chair to fetch the desired peanuts before he realised what he was doing. Every single pair of eyes fell on the copper haired boy and alighted on his still sleeping face. Still sleeping…

"Ah!" exclaimed Fuji and Oshitari, almost in perfect synchrony. "That's it!"

Others were starting to understand their excitement whereas there was a few remaining clueless individuals. Eiji, bless him, was a still a little lost and looked for an explanation from Oishi. Unfortunately, the preening peacock got there first.

"Ore-sama will explain," he said, standing up from the head of the table in a grand sweeping motion, drawing all eyes to him. Regrettably for him, Echizen was back up to his full ability and was frustrated and annoyed. He had also had more than enough time to establish a link with everyone in the room, so they were all treated to finding out exactly what Echizen thought about Atobe at that moment.

Needless to say, Atobe's cheeks dusted a crimson colour and a fair few of the others around the table burst into laughter and smiles. Shishido took shameless pleasure in the image of a monkey with Atobe's face and a crown dancing in his head to really bad music. Ohtori, well, his amusement was muted due to his simultaneous guilt and mortification at finding it funny. To his credit, Atobe made no move to retaliate, probably out of a mild sense of fear and a maintained desire to convert Echizen to his team despite his attitude. The temperature of the room did drop a few degrees and everyone's breath began to mist in front of their faces.

Clearing his throat imperially and acting as though nothing had happened, Atobe marched on regardless of Ryuuzaki-sensei's openly smiling face and Sakaki-sensei's slightly less stoic visage. "As I was saying, Jirou has just exhibited a possible way for someone to discover the location of the meeting. As you may know, people's minds become decidedly less secured when they are asleep. Any mental walls they have are weakened due to the absence of the continuous enforcement that occurs when they are awake.

"It stands to reason that, whilst the members of the council are well shielded awake, their minds are much more accessible when asleep. Thus, a weaker telepath may be able to access their minds when they are asleep whereas a stronger on would be needed whilst awake."

Eiji and Gakuto had "Eureka" looks on their faces, complete with raised index fingers pointing to their metaphorical light bulbs. Everyone else, including Momo, had already grasped the concept and so, had simple been politely waiting for Atobe to finish. Well, almost all were waiting politely. The only thing that had kept Echizen's mouth closed was the very stern looks from Tezuka and Ryuuzaki-sensei that promised retribution and punishment. It made him consider the relative worth of taunting Atobe as it wasn't worth the pain they would put him through for those few moments of pleasure.

"Fshuu, what now?" Kaidoh murmured and coloured slightly when all eyes turned to him. "We have a possible explanation for the leak but how do we proceed now?"

"Kaidoh's right," Inui commented. "How do we confirm the theory?"

All were silent for a while. Some looked like they were thinking rather hard, like Tezuka and Atobe, as he was not about to be outdone, and some looked like they were thinking but nothing was happening. The metaphorical hamster had left the wheel and was on strike so to speak. These were the likes of Eiji and Gakuto. Others seemed to not even be bothering. Echizen for one as he was far more concerned with more pressing matters. Like how Kabaji was able to just stand there like one of the Queen's Guards of England. It made him want to try and elicit a reaction from the larger teen. Just because.

Finally, before Echizen could reveal how truly childish his thoughts were by doing something stupid to Kabaji, the minds of the tensais paid off as Fuji and Oshitari both reached the same conclusion at the same moment. There was a brief pause as they glanced sideways at one another in some kind of derision against the other despite the fact that they were easily the two smartest people in the room. Then, Fuji remembered the one that was quite possibly smarter than he was and he gave a furtive glance towards his littlest kouhai, who merely smirked in response.

Echizen had no idea what was going one. After doing a mental backpedal to recover from his childish thoughts about poking Kabaji in various places in an attempt to relieve the ridiculous notions about his reactivity, Echizen had no idea why Fuji had looked at him. Given his lack of telepathic eavesdropping, he was at a loss but smirked anyway for two reasons. One, it was his default reaction and two, it was better to make Fuji think he knew something rather than admit he didn't.

Showing Fuji he didn't know something was akin to displaying your throat to a very hungry hyena that had no qualms about eating him alive (4). It just wasn't something you did if you wanted to live.

Oshitari and Fuji smiled at one another and they weren't nice smiles. "Please, go ahead Oshitari," Fuji said politely. The unvoiced "I'll happily remove every one of your toenails without anaesthetic if you do. Slowly" that followed was heard by everyone in the room. Oshitari began to look a little ill. Clearly he had never been exposed to this much Fuji in one sitting.

"No, you go ahead Fuji. You're the guest after all."

Fuji had to admit, it was a nice escape plan. He smiled even more disarmingly and proceeded with _his_ explanation.

"We need a council member and a telepath who is weaker than Echizen-" he pointedly ignored the muttered "Like that'll be hard" from Momo "-and we could test the theory when the council member is asleep. If the theory is correct we can discover the culprit through their mental trail."

Some of the audience were a little confused and Oshitari, who had been steadily looking more and more apoplectic trying to contain his outburst, couldn't help it anymore.

"Whenever a telepath accesses someone's mind, they leave behind a mental trail, a fingerprint as it were. This unique marker can be identified by the Psi Registry (5)."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Eiji crowed. "Let's get started."

"Eiji," Kawamura said gently, "we need another telepath. Does anyone else know one?"

"Ore-sama does, of course," Atobe said, "but not well enough to have their number in my phone."

Ryuuzaki-sensei turned to Sakaki-sensei at this point. "Do you have any telepaths in the facility?"

"Yes, but they are very low level. The highest we have is a level six."

"That won't be high enough for our needs will it?" Ryuuzaki-sensei mused aloud. "We don't have any higher at Seigaku."

All eyes turned to Echizen when he sighed like he was about to commit a great sin. He looked to the others and spoke clearly to Tezuka and Ryuuzaki-sensei. "You owe me." And he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number. All was silent for a while until a voice came through the speaker, loud enough for all to hear despite it not being on speaker.

"Oi, Seishounen (6). What do you want?"

* * *

1. Damocles was a courtier in Dionysus' court. He once remarked that it must have been lovely to be Dionysus. Dionysus offered him the chance to be him, so they swapped seats. Damocles sat on his throne, surrounded by the beautiful women, but Dionysus had a sword strung up above his head, held there by a single horse's hair. It represented the fear that people of position have. Nowadays, it is a reference to something hanging above someone's head, waiting to drop.

2. Ok, I fully admit. I stole this from Star Trek (I don't own). A little circley thing that sits behind the ear and blocks psychic entrance to the brain.

3. When I was little, I shared a bedroom with my sister as we had a 2-bedroom house. She had the unfortunate habit of sleep talking and I was, and still am, a light sleeper. So, there would be times where I would be shouted awake at 3am because of my sister's unconscious desire for fish and chips or chocolate or whatever was floating around her head. It led to many sleepless nights and I was really happy when she went to university. It was the first solid night's sleep I had had in years.

4. A common misconception I've found, perhaps due to an epic Disney film, is that hyenas are solely scavengers and that they only eat the remains of other predators' kills. Hyenas are skilful hunters in their own right and have impressive digestive tracts that can even digest bones. And the smiling and laughing thing? Totally Fuji in animal form. Him or Mukuro from KHR.

5. The Psi Registry. Basically, when a psi is born, to use their powers legally they have to register as a psi. Telepaths specifically have their mental fingerprint recorded as well to ensure things like this don't happen. If anyone else notices the HUGE plot device here, please keep it to yourselves. I'd like to have a semblance of suspense ;).

6. The literal translation for this is "youth" but in PoT when Nanjiroh speaks to Momo in the finals of the OVA the translation given was "my young man". I personally like that one better. Apologies for not giving this transaltion straight away. In fact, everyone should thank HikariNoTenshi-San for reminding me to include it. Oops.

As always

R&R

Bumble x

Next time you hear from me, hopefully, I will be a Doctor. Scary :)


	19. Chapter 18

I'm back! And, to the horror of the NHS, I am now a fully qualified doctor. Be warned people of Britain! :)

On a side note: I did try to respond to my reviews yesterday, however, since FFN had had the spiffy new upgrade, I have been unable to respond to any reviews that were sent before it. I do apologise for this, as I feel that if you've taken the time to review, I should take the time to respond, but I am unable to do so.

So a blanket "thank you" to everyone who reviewed. If you had a question, please could you send it again so I might be able to fully answer it. And I have been informed of the correct Japanese for some of the phrases used, so I'll be getting around to changing them in the near future.

On a slightly happier note, I'm thinking of starting a new story. It will be 9 chapters long and is currently titled "Inspiring the Creation". I challenge you to figure out the plot. So watch this space; I have 3 chapters finished so far and I won't post it until all 9 are complete.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its afflitiations.

Onwards!

* * *

Inui wasn't one to make rash decisions. He carefully weighed his options at all times, using a whole manner of available data to base his choices on. He certainly couldn't be described as hasty. So whenever Inui made up his mind about something, it was statistically more likely to be an astute decision.

Inui thought that Echizen was attempting to self-combust. Or at least make his father combust.

Now, Inui liked to think himself as a well-read individual, ranging from the most classic of fiction to the most up to date research. Thus, he was aware of the current literature on spontaneous combustion. A vast array of case reports had been submitted to the New England Journal of Psi Medicine (1) documenting purported cases of individuals bursting into flames for no good reason but the rebuttals against such case reports were strong and somewhat irrefutable. Inui firmly believed that unless you were a pyrokinetic, fires did not start for no apparent reason.

That being said, Echizen was still trying to alight his father through the, not insignificant, power of his mind alone.

When the middle aged man in black monk's robes had shown up, after seemingly cycling the whole way here, Inui was inclined to make a remark questioning the man's identity however, one look at the young telepath was enough to assure Inui of the man's identity. Echizen had stated on numerous occasions that his father was a childish individual but, like the others, Inui had been convinced it was some kind of teenage rebellion voicing it rather than the truth.

After just ten minutes in the man's company, Inui had rapidly altered his opinion and truly believe Echizen. Inui was tempted to make some kind of comment as to his behaviour when in his company after a few minutes; he could only imagine how Echizen felt after years of being interred with him. It was surprising that he was as sane and well-adjusted as he was.

However, just because Inui was slightly amazed at the sanity of the youngest kouhai, didn't mean he would take down the valuable data on the two Echizens and their interactions with one another. He whipped out his ever present green notebook and began to jot down information in his uniquely shortened kanji, a mere whisper of "Ii Data" left his lips, too engaged in watching the scene in front of him.

Before him and the rest of Seigaku and Hyoutei squads, the two Echizens were, for lack of a better term, fighting. No, sparring was a better word, since there was a definite give and take to the shouting and gestures. The elder Echizen had arrived in a flurry of robes and a slowly burning cigarette, shouting something about telekinetically moving a magazine of some kind.

Inui was still in shock that this was Samurai Nanjiroh, _the_ Samurai Nanjiroh. He had read practically everything ever written about the man back when he was a child. He remembered the first time he ever heard about psi talents; he was sat in front of the television, cross legged with his eyes open wide in rapt attention as he watched the live broadcast of the news. It was a quick glimpse, the barest of sights but he remembered the wild hair, the cocky smirk and the way he used his talent to end a hostage situation. It was the most thrilling thing he had ever seen.

When he discovered that he had a talent as well, he was ecstatic. He thought he could be like Samurai Nanjiroh and perform all kinds of feats that would make everyone notice him.

Analytically, he knew he was compensating with those thoughts. Reflecting back on the experience (2) he understood. He was a child who was quite obviously more well-read than other children, who cared more for news than anime, who played computer games and tennis rather than soccer.

He was a stereotypical nerd. And the fact that he was myopic (3) requiring severely thick glasses to correct this didn't make his social standing any higher. So, when he found out he could have the opportunity to be as _cool_ as Samurai Nanjiroh, well, he was undeniably excited.

Until he discovered he was a nullifier. It took a surprisingly long time for him to come to terms with his talent. He was quite distraught in his own way for a while until one day, he was just sitting on the bleachers, watching a tennis match between a brunet and a redhead when some bullies approached them. Given that both boys were rather small in comparison to the bullies, they were quickly made into targets. The leader of the bullies, a boy with a rather large body habitus (4) delighted in tormenting the two and began to create razor sharp gusts of wind, threatening to attack them physically.

Inui didn't know what he was doing until he was stood in front of the boys with his power activated. The bully, seeing his wind disappearing, quickly scarpered, his entourage following behind, tails tucked between their legs. It was only when they had literally disappeared into the distance that Inui realised what he had just done. He tentatively turned to the other boys only to find they were looking at him with shining eyes. It turned out that that the other boys, Kawamura Takashi and Kikumaru Eiji, were psis as well.

"That was amazing!" Eiji had cheered happily. "I've never met a nullifier before!"

"You do have a great talent Inui," Kawamura said and Eiji butted in.

"Yeah, if you think about it, you talent tops everything doesn't it? You could stop anything with that."

It was a wake-up call for him. He began to appreciate his gift more. It wasn't as flashy as some other ones, but it was reliable and useful.

That didn't mean that he lost his mild hero worship of Samurai Nanjiroh though. So, he was a little shattered when his idol lost a little of his sparkle in a haze of cigarette smoke and swear words.

Everyone has to grow up at some point. And that includes growing out of childhood heroes (5).

* * *

What few people realised was that the Echizen males had a unique way of interacting with each other and other people. They exchanged insults as terms of endearment and physical actions that would normally be counted as abuse were classified as friendly and usual for them. So when Nanjiroh arrived and began exchanging verbal barbs with his son, few others understood the secret meaning behind their words. Given their telepathic abilities, it was easy for them to understand each another's meaning but their actions did not reflect this.

To everyone else, they looked like they were about to strangle each other.

"Man, seishounen, couldn't you at least have invited me somewhere with pretty girls to watch?" the loud mouthed telepath bemoaned towards his son, whose face thundered.

"Baka oyaji! This isn't a party!"

"Che. You promised me girls!" he whined pathetically. Echizen sighed and, in a Tezuka like movement, squeezed his nasal bridge at the impending headache.

"No, you stupid man. I promised not to tell Kaa-san about your magazines."

"Nya, what magazines?" Eiji asked, head cocked to one side like a cat.

"Well, they're-" Nanjiroh was abruptly cut off when his mouth couldn't open. Looking at the only telekinetic in the room, he scowled at his equally frowning son. His scowl was brought to an abrupt end was he began to sweat drop nervously as he finally noticed the twitching eyebrow of his son. His left eyebrow. It was a portent of doom whenever that happened; RInko had the exact same tick just before she demonstrated why the Echizen family was matriarchal instead of patriarchal.

He slowly backed away from his little son, easily the shortest and scariest person in the room and placated him by holding his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'm here now. What was this super-secret mission you wanted me to do, seishounen?"

Ryuuzaki-sensei took that as an incentive to step forwards and stop the childish bickering of the Echizen males. She explained to Nanjiroh about their theory and the need to test it with a telepath.

"Why not just use seishounen over there?" he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in Echizen's direction. Momo, who was stood next to the little telepath took several steps backwards due to the black waves emanating from him in anger.

"We needed a lower level telepath!" Eiji cheered, happy to contribute to the conversation. At the words "Low level", Nanjiroh jerked backwards as if he'd been struck and huddled in on himself in a corner of woe. All the surrounding people watched as he seemed to shrink in size until he was about the same size as his son. Eiji looked adorably bewildered as to what he'd said to trigger this reaction.

"Are you ok, nya?" he asked approaching the deflated man. After some gentle prodding by Oishi, the penny finally dropped for Eiji and he realised the implications of what he had said. "I'm sorry, Echizen-san! I didn't mean to imply that you were a low level psi!" He apologised with such sincerity that Nanjiroh turned around and looked at him with shining eyes.

And then Eiji shot that newly borne hope to hell. "Just because your level is lower than your son's doesn't mean you're weak!" he said with a sunny smile. Nanjiroh looked at him for an extended second, glanced a watery eye at his son, who merely smirked at his distress, and returned to his corner.

* * *

After they'd dragged Nanjiroh from the corner, they all sat down at the conference table to have a mature and adult conversation. This meant that Eiji and Gakuto were silent, Jiroh was asleep (again) and Echizen was living in his head again. Nanjiroh, being the paragon of a wonderful parent, felt no shame when he dipped into his son's thoughts during a lull in the conversation. He caught a glimpse of the whirlwind fast thoughts that flitted through his son's mind –something about dampening and amplifying- before seishounen's iron walls slammed down on his mind. He looked across the table into the eyes of his son, eerily similar to his, and caught the glare that they were sending him.

Even though his son looked so similar to him some people joked that he was Nanjiroh's clone, most of his mannerisms were Rinko's. So when he was stared at with the glare of the devil, Nanjiroh could almost imagine that his wife was there, silently admonishing him with her eyes.

He was distracted from his son's glare because the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He turned to see another person sending a formidable glare in his direction. The not insignificant glower of Ryuuzaki-sensei was enough to send him back to his childhood; back to when he was a young teenage boy under her _gentle_ tutelage. He nearly visibly cringed at the traumatic memories.

'If I could draw you back to the matter at hand…' she projected into his mind in her acerbic tone. Nanjiroh shuddered but dutifully drew his attention back to the main topic of conversation. He listened, almost attentively, as Sakaki-sensei was monotonously droning on about the mission. Nanjiroh felt that this was a bit of a redundant task as he was the only person who would need an explanation of the task given that everyone else was there for the initial discussion. He, however, didn't need the exposition as Ryoma had filled him in on the details as soon as he got there. During their meeting-cum-fight, Ryoma had explained what he was to do directly into his mind.

Who said men couldn't multitask? (6)

Nanjiroh had been living amongst psi null people for long enough to understand that there was sometimes a need to discuss things aloud, even though he probably already knew the answer. Unfortunately, the almost silent household that his son had grown up in hadn't leant itself to teaching him the advantages of speaking aloud so Ryoma often seemed silent compared to other people. He didn't see the need to vocalise his thoughts and sometimes, he seemed to forget that other people couldn't find out what they needed from telepathy.

His poor, stunted son.

"So, how exactly is this going to be done?" Nanjiroh asked and drew all eyes to him. He could almost hear the confusion radiating from some of the group. "Even if I test your theory, you'll need to get the council together. All of the council, because you'll need to track the weak link out of the group. That will take weeks of negotiations and planning."

"But the case-" Momo said, but was abruptly cut off by Nanjiroh.

"Despite the case, you still need clearance. The Psi Council gets thousands of threats a year. If they were all investigated, they wouldn't do any work. Which leads me to the next question: who gave you this case?"

Silence followed the question as all eyes turned to Sakaki-sensei. Echizen was simply astounded that, contrary to all his long held beliefs, his father did have some grey matter in his skull and it wasn't all devoted to the appreciation of the female form.

"The request came from the council itself," he replied and Nanjiroh frowned.

"Normally, they don't request things like that. Was it from one of the council members or one of the security staff or one of the aides?"

"Unknown," was the almost sullen reply.

"Well, I'm not going traipsing through someone's mind until we can verify who sent this case to you. And I won't allow Ryoma to do it either," Nanjiroh stated firmly, steadfastly ignoring the withering glare his son sent him. Many of the people present looked confused as to why he would refuse so strongly.

"Ok, once again, I'll ask the stupid question," Momo said after moments of silence, "Why not?"

"Have you ever been in a psychic trap?" Nanjiroh asked and none nodded to the affirmative. "That's right. If you've ever been in a psychic trap, especially one constructed by a telepath, you wouldn't wake up."

No one quite knew what to say to that. Many of the squad members had never even heard of a psychic trap before but that didn't stop them from feeling nauseous at the thought of it.

"Every time a telepath enters someone's mind, especially someone who has had a prior encounter with a telepath, they run the risk of entering a psychic trap left there. It activates when someone enters someone else's mind and traps theirs inside, rendering them brain dead.

"Now, I may be willing to let my son be on your squad, knowing these risks but when dealing with a case like this, where there is a distinct possibility of a trap being present, I would prefer a little more caution from those involved."

"But I thought telepaths were registered?" Eiji asked and all eyes turned to him. He coloured slightly and moved a little behind Oishi's left shoulder, as if to shield himself from the stares. "Well," he continued, slightly quieter, "if they all register with the Psi Registry, then surely any trap left behind would leave that mental fingerprint thing Oshitari mentioned earlier and you could track them."

Nanjiroh looked a little impressed at the statement, but his look was still one of partial boredom. "Very good. But that raises two issues. Firstly, if the telepath that broaches the mind containing the trap and becomes brain dead, there is nowhere for them to report the fingerprint to. Secondly, some people do not register or do not fully register, so they omit their telepathic status."

"Surely that would be a sign of intent? Such an omission?" Oshitari asked.

"Not really," Echizen voiced and drew all eyes to him, "Oyaji nearly didn't register me as a telepath. It was only when Kaa-san saw the form that only had my telekinetic and precognitive abilities listed that he put it down."

"Why would you do that?" Gakuto asked Nanjiroh, who was now sporting a faint dust of colour over his cheeks.

"Telepaths don't have the best regard amongst psis and even amongst psi-null people," Atobe said, still sitting in his almost regal chair at the head of the table. His posture was cool and relaxed, with one leg thrown nonchalantly over the other and resting his head on one hand. To his credit, he remained in this position despite Nanjiroh loud question of: "Who's the monkey?"

Once the sniggers had died down, Ryuuzaki-sensei thought it was time to control the conversation once more.

"If we were to determine who sent the letter to Hyoutei, would you be willing to help us then?" she asked.

Nanjiroh paused and nodded.

"It still leaves two aspects unanswered," Tezuka said, "How to get in and the worries of a psychic trap."

"I'm sure ore-sama's contacts within the government will be able to obtain access for us," Atobe said, his chest puffing out further.

Both Echizen's chose that moment to display how truly alike they were. Both burst into snickers at the comment and, given the contagious nature of laughter, it set most of the people in the room off.

"Never mind that. Seishounen can get us in easily," Nanjiroh said after his laughter had died down. Everyone wanted to ask how but, given Echizen's level and previous contact with the council, it had almost answered itself. And given Echizen's current mood and close proximity of his father, no-one wanted to tickle that sleeping dragon (7).

"And the other matter?" Sakaki-sensei inquired.

Nanjiroh sighed but didn't answer. It didn't look as though he was planning to rectify that as he put his hand to his forehead. Whether he was suffering from a headache or he was communicating with his son (8) was unknown but it was clear he wasn't going to speak up.

"There is no way to prepare for them. Since we're actively searching for someone who tampered with a council member's mind, we couldn't know if the signs of tampering we should find would be due to that or a trap. If I piggybacked on Oyaji's mind when he tests the mind, I could, in theory, throw up a nominal defence that should give enough time to get out."

'Think you can do that seishounen?' Nanjiroh asked and watched as his son gave him an arrogant look of confidence. Inside, he knew that his son was a lot less sure of this method than he would ever outwardly show.

'Fine.'

"That could work," he said aloud.

"So," Ryuuzaki-sensei spoke in her "I'm delegating" voice, "Echizen will contact the council to arrange a meeting with the members, do you need any help with that?" the little telepath mutely shook his head, "Inui, Tezuka, Fuji, look into the case. I want to know why this case is so special, what makes it different to the other threats, what is the council doing at the moment that could entice something like this. I want these questions answered. Sakaki-sensei, can you contribute some manpower to this please?"

The other psi coach nodded his head. "Oshitari, Gakuto and Hiyoshi."

"Kaidoh, Momoshiro, Kawamura, we'll need a copy of the telepathic psi registry. Liaise to get one."

"Shishido, Ootori and Jiroh can help."

"And finally, Oishi, Eiji, verify the sender of the information. Who sent it, why, when? I want their life story. I want to know who gave birth to them. I want to know what they had for breakfast."

"Kabaji, help them."

"Usu."

"Everyone, meet back here in three days. I want everything done in that time. No excuses," she finished, her orders barked out like a military commander.

"Yes Ryuuzaki-sensei!" And all the squad members shifted into their assigned groups, after waking up Jiroh. They began to converse and organise themselves, so the room was filled with a buzz of noise. Atobe, took that opportunity to sidle up to the three adults, who were stood in one corner of the room, quietly discussing something. He saw Ryuuzaki-sensei vaguely gesture to Echizen, who had once more retrieved his phone and was beginning to make calls to the higher ups.

They hushed as Atobe approached. "I wasn't assigned anything to do."

The three exchanged glances. "Yes, Atobe. There was a reason for that," Sakaki-sensei stated. "We have another job for you. Something that will involve your _other_ contacts."

Atobe smirked.

* * *

Echizen was leant against the wall, distractedly listening to the dialling tone as he waited for his call to connect. He slid a bored eye over to the group in the corner. The statue, the commander, the perverted monk and the monkey were all in an in depth conversation. Disregarding how his mind instantly thought it was the start of a really bad joke, he struggled not to dip into their thoughts to find out what the subject was. He was seen Ryuuzaki-sensei's gesture earlier so he knew it was linked to him, however distantly.

Before he could slip into the monkey's mind, the call connected.

"Ryoma, do you have any idea what time it is over here?" the irritated voice on the other end said in greeting.

"Yes," Echizen smirked back. There was a long pause after that comment and then a long litany of curses was released.

"So help me Ryoma, if this isn't important, I will gut you with a spoon. A rusty spoon. A rusty, _blunt_ spoon. And I will smile and laugh as I do it."

"You're so charming. And you have such a sunny disposition; it's so obvious why you're _so_ popular."

"Ryoma, as much as I would love to exchange acerbic barbs with you at –Oh My God – 3.16am, why don't we just spare the foreplay and skip to important bit. What do you want, dammit?"

"I need a favour, Kevin."

* * *

(1) This has nothing to do with the New England Journal of Medicine, which I subscribe to since I am a very boring individual who has no life. That being said, I feel it is necessary to put in a little disclaimer that I do not own the NEJM just in case anyone is being picky.

(2) If there is one thing we always have to do that we all hate, it is "reflecting on experiences". It sucks. You can't just say "it was great" or "it made me feel awful" you have to dissect every little action and consequence and it is annoyingly irritating.

(3) Short sighted

(4) Body state. Basically, when doctors and other health care professionals want to comment on someone's weight but can't find a polite way to put it, the comment is usually "The patient has a large body habitus". Just a little insight into the secret language of doctors.

(5) I will admit, by this point in the story, I've gotten used to romping around in the character's psyches but this one was too easy. I think Inui reminded me of myself, barring the psychic powers. That says a lot purely about my eyesight doesn't it?

(6) I don't know about anyone else but I get really quite annoyed at this saying. I'm a woman and I find true multitasking difficult and I can name at least fifty males that can do it better than me at any rate. Grrrr.

(7) Taken from the Hogwarts crest: Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. Never tickle a sleeping dragon. Wise advice.

(8) Yes, I have just watched X-men: First Class, where James McAvoy kept putting his fingers to his temple to use his powers. Yes, I enjoyed the film and I may have squeed slightly. Very adult of me, I know. I thoroughly recommend the film to everyone. Go watch it.

As always

R&R

Bumble


	20. Chapter 19

So, after numerous threats and a hastily avoided lynch mob, I have finally gotten around to uploading Chapter 19. I sit here now as you all pause with the threats for a few days until they return for Chapter 20. Well, never fear, for it is in the process of being polished up for you all. Whilst you wait for Chapter 20, would you be interested in my other fic?

No, not interested?

What if I told you it was themed on the Greek muses and each chapter was a stand alone fic?

Still not interested?

How about: each chapter is focussed on a different member of the Seigaku squad based on how I see them?

Still nothing?

What about: I have finished it and am regularly posting chapters?

Ah, so that got you then :)

Enjoy Chapter 19 whilst I polish up Chapter 20.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its affliations.

* * *

_He was back in that place; that darkened room with nothing but the never ending blackness to see. He felt cold this time and could feel the firm floor beneath his feet. He still couldn't see anything but he could faintly hear something. A constant, quiet beep that invaded everywhere and resonated within him. _

"_Come back soon boya."_

* * *

Echizen awoke with a gasp, shooting upright with enough force to dislodge Karupin from his sleeping spot. The blue eyed Himalayan cat glared at him sleepily and purposely circled again before curling back up again on Echizen's lap, his back facing the boy.

Echizen continued to pant as though he'd run a marathon, golden eyes wildly darting around the room. When he saw that nothing had changed, he sighed in relief and collapsed back on the bed absently petting his sleeping cat.

These dreams were becoming troublesome.

* * *

If anyone had said that Kevin Smith was the type of person expected to associate with a blank wall like Echizen, Momo would have happily berated them for lying and recommended they get professional help for their clear defects in judgement.

Kevin was everything Echizen was not. Unlike the grouchy telepath, Kevin was bubbly, loud, actually knew how to talk to people and smile. He was blond (1) with blue eyes –Aryan, Inui had said- and seemed _happy_ to be around Echizen.

Weird.

In fact, the only thing they seemed to share was their deficient height; they were both as tall as the other, so naturally, they were distinctly shorter than the norm for their age.

But then again, compared to the random people his uncle Yuusuke (2) hung out with, the Echizen-Smith collaboration could almost be considered normal. His uncle's friends were _weird_. As in, kill you in your sleep weird.

Apparently, after Echizen had called him, Kevin had hopped onto the next plane to Japan. It was a bit much, if you asked Momo. After all, all he had to do was get in touch with the council members and bring them here, not this teenage boy who, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be trying to annoy Echizen. Most people, barring his father, ended up annoying him by accident, but it seemed to be the goal of this strange blond American.

Momo had been watching the two bicker back and forth and had to admit, it was the first time he'd seen Echizen almost happy. He was smirking, as always, but there was something different about this one. It was a little more genuine than the ones he usually graced the likes of him with.

It was almost like Echizen was a real person.

They had once again gathered in Hyoutei's obscenely large conference room to talk over what they had done in the past three days. Almost everyone had arrived, the Seigaku members coming much earlier than the Hyoutei squad, even Echizen. Clearly he had learnt enough about Ryuuzaki-sensei not to be late by now. He had briefly introduced Kevin and then segregated himself and Kevin in a bickering corner.

At that moment, they were waiting to be graced with Atobe's presence and all could see some were becoming impatient. Ryuuzaki-sensei had begun to tap her foot against the floor, her arms crossed and her expression frosty. Everyone on the Seigaku squad shrunk in their chairs, as did Kevin. Kevin may have done so for two reasons. One, that Echizen had minutely done so, thus he was following Echizen's lead, or two, he had simply looked at Ryuuzaki-sensei and decided he liked his neck. Especially since it kept his head attached to his body.

'What's the deal with her?' Kevin asked Ryoma in his head. 'She's scarier than your mother, and I thought that was impossible.'

Echizen barely glanced at the American out of the corner of his eyes and silently raised an eyebrow. 'Ryuuzaki-sensei taught oyaji. I think she made him a little masochistic. Why else would he look so happy to be completely whipped by kaa-san?'

'Do you think she taught Rinko how to control him?'

'Wouldn't put it passed them to be collaborating on the side lines.'

They spared a brief glance at the elder Echizen who was lounging on one of the chairs next to Ryuuzaki-sensei, his foot propped up on the seat and a magazine about peach farming open in front of him. It didn't take a genius to realise he wasn't actually reading this and he probably had another magazine inside that one.

Nanjiroh looked up when he realised there were eyes on him and saw the golden and blue gazes of his son and his best friend. His raised an eyebrow and shameless began to search for why they were staring. He didn't even bother with his son's mind as he knew it wouldn't yield anything, so he targeted Kevin instead. He didn't even make it past the layer of laughter before his son slammed a wall in his face with such force it actually hurt his physical nose as well.

Echizen and Kevin had to smother more laughter as they watched the monk raised his hand to his nose to see whether it was bleeding.

By the time Atobe arrived twenty minutes later, Ryuuzaki-sensei was almost apoplectic with rage. Did he not realise how hard it was to get her team to sit still for extended periods of time? Atobe had taken so long to arrive that Eiji was beginning to fidget in his seat despite Oishi's gentle admonishments. It was a bad sign; she wondered if EIji had had sugar that morning.

Atobe just walked in, Kabaji trailing after him like a sentient shadow and seated himself in one of the two remaining chairs, oblivious to the death glare aimed at him. The Ryuuzaki Glare put the Echizen Glare to shame. If they were to be in a face off, the Echizen Glare would be sent whimpering to one corner of the ring, shaking and muttering to itself.

Atobe briefly looked up as he finally noticed the icy atmosphere surrounding the conference room; he wasn't responsible for it and he wanted to know who was. All the Hyoutei members, used to his theatrics, had sat waiting and most of the Seigaku ones were sat as well, in varying stages of patience. He finally noted that the glare was from the Seigaku trainer and for the first time in a long time, Atobe felt very small and inferior under her imperial gaze. He didn't like it.

The sooner this mission was over and the sooner Seigaku left to go back to their poor part of Tokyo, the better.

"Now that we are all here," Ryuuzaki-sensei said, sparing a heated glance at the purple haired Hyoutei captain, who minutely shrunk like a turtle, unnoticed by most of the room, "we can discuss the results of the tasks we set you three days ago. Firstly, did anyone not complete theirs?" She asked this with such a fierce look that none dared to speak even if they hadn't. The Seigaku squad had seen what happened if someone failed to do something much more minor than this so they had all ensured they finished.

It would have been safe to assume they wouldn't have lived had they not finished.

"Good. Report." For the Hyoutei members who were unfamiliar with the way Ryuuzaki-sensei ran things, they stayed silent and let the Seigaku members they had worked with report their findings.

"At the moment, the council is looking into a number of things," Inui began, his green notebook open on a certain page, filled with pencil markings that Momo was sure wasn't Japanese. He wasn't that bad in modern Japanese after all. "There are twenty-five things on this year's agenda for the council to discuss, ranging from a psi felon in Brazil to passing a new legislative bill in the UK about psi education. There wasn't much on the agenda that differed significantly from previous years but going through the minutes of the previous meetings, we found that there was one issue that is discussed on a yearly basis."

"Which is?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked.

"Registration. Every year, they discuss this and there is never a definitive answer from the council. It was publicised in the news earlier this year that the council were not going to adjourn the meeting unless they had reached a consensus about registration internationally. In past years the only agreement they have been able to reach is that the register should be international and available online, although there are strict barriers to access.

"What they are trying to agree on is whether the voluntary registration should be altered to a compulsory one."

Although everyone in the room could see the benefits to such a system, they could also see that compulsory registration would make them feel like criminals.

"Right. I think it's safe to assume that registration is the reason for the threat. Did you find out why they referred this one on to us as opposed to other ones?"

Here Tezuka began to speak. "In terms of differences between this threat and the others, there were many. Whilst most of the threats the council receives are submitted to the office, this threat was delivered to the homes of each member and addressed to each person individually."

"The other thing that made it stand out was the threat itself," Fuji purred. "Many threats against the council are your boring, generic "We/I will kill you" but this was so detailed it was a refreshing change."

Kevin and Nanjiroh, who were unfamiliar with Fuji and his twisted sense of humour looked on in slight horror at his words but the others retained their blank looks.

"Ok. So I can see why they would seek help with this threat. It certainly sounds more genuine than your usual ones, purely due to the amount of thought that has gone into it." Ryuuzaki-sensei said. "Which raises the next task: who sent it to Hyoutei?"

"We managed to track the sender down to the wife of one of the threatened council members," Oishi said. "Apparently, she'd accidentally read her husband's mail and got concerned. Her cousin was a member of Hyoutei's squad twenty years ago, so she referred it here."

"Accidentally read his mail," Echizen muttered.

"Sure," Kevin chimed in, his tone completely disbelieving.

"Disregarding the state of their marriage, at least we have verified the sender as a legitimate one," Sakaki-sensei droned. "This tells us two things: one, the threat is likely genuine and two, it is unlikely to be a trap for us."

"Did you get a copy of the registry?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked the final group. They nodded and produced a USB stick.

"How did you get it in three days?" Oshitari asked. "Last time we needed a copy for a case, I spent five weeks jumping through bureaucratic hoops."

"Oh, that was easy," Momo said with a smile. "I just said that Echizen wanted it. It was in my inbox within two hours."

Echizen sat there in the corner, grinding his teeth at the blatant misuse of his name and mentally inflicting a headache on Momo whilst everyone else contemplated the importance of Echizen's name. Granted, Echizen was the first level ten and as such, was afforded many more liberties than usual but for just the mention of his name to clear such a path, it was hard to believe.

"Ah, that wouldn't be my name _per se_," Nanjiroh said, still lounging in his chair and still reading his magazine on "peach farming". All eyes shifted to him, but there was one pair that was glaring at him. Nanjiroh had to smirk in response. "Sorry, seishounen. Has to be said. It wasn't the name Echizen but the linked name that comes with it."

Ryuuzaki-sensei's eyes lit up in understanding. "Rinko's. Of course it would carry much more weight than yours." Nanjiroh spared a glare for her, which did nothing to deter her from saying the rest. "Takeuchi Rinko."

"As in Takeuchi Zaibatsu (3)?" Atobe asked, awe in his voice. There wasn't a single person in the room who hadn't heard of them; they were the world's largest law firm, defending and prosecuting across the world. They were one of the largest companies in the world, comparable to McDonalds (4) in terms of world domination. When someone within Takeuchi Zaibatsu said they wanted something for legal purposes, especially someone with Takeuchi genes, it was done with nary a pause.

Echizen and Nanjiroh were sporting identical smirks as the power of the Echizen matriarch was revealed. Nanjiroh was smirking to cover his throbbing headache but it made little difference.

"Right. How doesn't matter, the fact is we got the registry," Nanjiroh said and the conversation swiftly moved onwards.

"Yes, of course; no need to dwell on how much more powerful your wife is," Ryuuzaki-sensei smirked. "Atobe."

Atobe motioned to Kabaji, who unveiled a sheaf of papers from his bag. "Here is a list of all the telepaths who are not on the registry. It is as full as can be expected."

"How did you get that, nyah?" Eiji asked whilst everyone else was intelligent enough not to ask. Atobe smiled and began a long, winding monologue about how his father's company had access to many things that plebeians such as the Seigaku could only dream of. Needless to say, he didn't make himself more endearing to the majority of the group.

"And finally, Echizen, did you arrange to meet the council?" The little telepath mutely nodded.

"As much as I enjoy meeting new people," Shishido grumbled, "who's the blond and why is he here?" It was only then that the Hyoutei squad realised they had not been formally introduced to the smirking blond who sat next to Echizen as though he belonged there.

"The blond," Kevin began, "is the only way you're going to meet the council in time."

* * *

A dubious collection of teens and three adults crowded around a bare section of Hyotei's conference room wall. The taupe section had nothing remotely interesting about it and so, the reason for the interest couldn't be because of the wall. No, the interest was the blond who stood before it in the centre of the loose semi-circle of people. Kevin took a deep breath and prepared to use his psi powers.

Usually, his strength and range would be insufficient for the task at hand but usually, he didn't have a level ten telepath stood next to him. Half of the audience was surprised by the littlest member's actions as he took a hold of Kevin's hand when it was offered. Nanjiroh knew from bitter personal experience that his son did not like to be touched and that him instigating contact was rare.

Kevin paid no attention to the shocked faces behind him as his psi centres we flooded with extra energy. Ryoma was literally opening Kevin's psychic flood gates so all his untapped potential was suddenly available in an instant. A distant part of him knew that although Ryoma could very possibly use Kevin's power as his own thanks to his psi talent, he didn't have the level of control that Kevin had attained through years of training. Though he would be able to do what Kevin was intending, he would not be able to do it as accurately and for as many people as needed.

Exhaling, Kevin briefly enjoyed the heady rush of power and then tapped into his talent. The wall before them fluxed and bent, the extrasensory pressure being applied was immense. Fuji watched as Kevin literally bent the wall with his mind. He had figured out what the intent was long before the rest and was content to watch the two youngest people in the room work. Small beads of sweat broke out on Ryoma's forehead with the effort he was exerting whereas Kevin looked a little like he was drunk off the extra energy he was being supplied by Ryoma. Kevin's face looked euphoric; an elated expression of near perfect serenity was there, only slightly marred as Kevin's mouth twitched into a downward frown and Ryoma's mirrored it perfectly.

Fuji wanted that for himself. He wanted to experience that high, that perfect symbiosis with someone. It promised to be _thrilling_ and he would get it. Or else.

Kevin was aware that, although his power had exponentially increased with Echizen's supplement, it was by no means limitless and he should finish his task sooner rather than later. He concentrated some more and the fluxing wall rippled and stretched, warping to Kevin's whim. The onlookers watched as the wall's drab taupe colour altered and merged, some areas colouring a deep green, others a dull grey. A few moments later and discernable shaped could be seen. The lifeless grey became tall buildings and the hazy green sprouted into grass. And then suddenly, the wall was a window, looking out over Turtle Bay. A row of international flags greeted them and suddenly, even Momo knew what they were staring at.

"Lady and gentlemen, I give you the International Psi Council headquarters in New York," Kevin said, grandly gesturing at the window through space he had made.

Everyone was silent, astounded by the sudden creation of a portal through space until Momo closed his slack mouth and foolishly decided to open it again.

"Bloody midget can make portals?"

* * *

Momo was treated to his first ever trip outside of Japan that day. He took one step through the portal, his head ringing thanks to the headache Echizen had given him and the punch to his cheek, courtesy of Kevin. He maintained that both were still little and he was right, but conceded that Kevin punched hard.

Like a brick wall hard.

As he stepped through the portal, empowered by those that had gone before him, he briefly checked to make sure that Kaidoh wasn't stood behind him. No way was he going to walk into what was still essentially a wall with the Viper stood right there. He took a step forwards and knew it was only one stride however, he felt like he was running a marathon. It might have had something to do with the fact that he felt like he had been shoved into a washing machine on a spin cycle but by the time he walked onto the grass in Turtle Bay, he was lucky he didn't throw up violently.

Clearly Kevin had never perfected the smoothness of inter-space travel. Momo had never had severe nausea; that time in Meino Nanako's house came close but he was more disgusted than nauseous then. This was something else. He could fully understand now why his mother complained about the sickness when she was pregnant with his younger siblings. He had underestimated how bad feeling sick could make someone. Now, he was readily wishing for a vomit bag or something.

Just the thought of inter-space travel and having all his person travel thousands of miles in a second made him feel slightly queasy. He knew that his hunched over position was causing Eiji concern, judging by the angle of his head and the increased pestering Oishi was receiving but he selfishly didn't want company right now. Thankfully a few other people had arrived via the portal since him so he was no longer the centre of attention. That dubious honour was firmly on Kaidoh's slouched shoulders given his distinctly green complexion.

He glanced over at Echizen, who had been first through the tunnel, expecting ridicule but all he received was a conceited smirk and then the telepath looked away to the portal. Momo expected more derision than that but maybe they were growing on Echizen.

'Like a toe fungus,' was the scathing riposte Echizen mentally gave him but still, nothing else. No mental headaches, no mental head slaps, no physical head slaps.

'Really Momo-sempai, you shouldn't think so much. Your brain is like a small animal; if you let it wander, it'll get lost and thoroughly decimated by the much bigger and stronger ones out there.' Momo just smiled. Echizen raised an eyebrow at his sempai's ridiculous behaviour and watched as Kevin came through the portal, closing it behind him with a snap that was too firm to be intentional.

'You lost it, didn't you?' Echizen mentally teased and simply received a nasty glare in response from the blond in question. Neither Kevin nor Echizen exchanged any further words; their relationship had progressed to insinuations and implications a long time ago. Just as Echizen and his father communicated through scathing retorts and thinly veiled insults, his relationship with Kevin had matured beyond words as well.

Kevin merely sniffed and lowered the sunglasses he had perched on his head earlier; Japan may have the dubious honour of being more humid but Kevin would always think the US was sunnier. "Right then everybody," he said, catching the attention of the conglomerate around him.

"Let's go meet the council."

* * *

The International Psi Council building was a large, steel building with the atmosphere of a hospital. It had a very clinical and cold air around it as the bright sunlight reflected blindingly off its walls. The foyer was air conditioned to a fault and everyone barring the Echizens and Kevin shivered, unused to the cooler temperatures preferred by Americans (5). They passed the professionally dressed security guard who was stood just inside the doors, his black aviators reflecting the light like a mirror. The large group of psis approached the reception desk with purpose and stood in an imposingly big group, no doubt intimidating the receptionist, if the widening of their eyes was anything to go by. Sakaki-sensei opted to speak for the group, announcing their identities and purpose.

The receptionist nodded professionally, returning to a cool demeanour and picked up the phone to discuss something with whoever was on the other line.

'She's really pretty," Momo absently thought, looking at the receptionist's dark green hair and pale face. It was a passing thought, with little effort or emphasis put on it, but it was one of those thoughts Momo instantly both regretted and was thankful for.

Whether due to the combination of power use, exhaustion or simply putting up with too many people at once, that one stray thought made Echizen snicker. Not quite a laugh but definitely not a snort or a scoff. He and everyone else was marvelling at the sight of Echizen snickering to his heart's content when Nanjiroh, who was standing a little away from everyone cataloguing the sight of his son snickering for Rinko to see later as she hadn't seen him almost laugh for a long time, approached him and simply held out a hand. Echizen still had enough sense about him to extend his to meet Nanjiroh's, their fingers barely grazing.

Usually, they could share a thought between them with nary an effort but when one of them had their emotional or psychic state compromised, it was a bit more difficult without causing harm. Nanjiroh silently received the notion that set his son off, paused and promptly burst out into laughter as well.

The others stared at the two telepaths, edging away slightly so as to prevent themselves catching whatever illness those two clearly had. Nanjiroh had doubled over, cackling and supporting himself on his son's shoulder. When he caught his breath back, he managed to wheeze out a single statement.

"The receptionist is not a girl, Momoshirou. His name is Terry and his brother is Tom, the very large, intimidating security guard we just passed. You know, the one who looks like he could snap you with his little finger."

This set everyone else off laughing as well as the two telepaths and turned Momo into a florid shade of red. Even Kaidoh loosened a smile and Tezuka's expression looked less stony than usual. The two Echizen's stopped laughing to watch everyone else's amusement shine. They exchanged a small minute look and contentment flowed between them.

'It wasn't that funny was it?' Nanjiroh thought to his son and received a glance out of the corner of his son's large eyes. Ryoma said nothing but slowly extracted his fingers from his father's and stepped away. It was true, the thought hadn't been that funny but he had been mentally tired the entire group had needed it. Everyone had been on edge since the start of this case and needed a release, proven by how much everyone else was laughing at the only slightly funny thought.

"Erm," a tentative voice broke through the laugher. All turned to see the countenance of the receptionist stood behind them all, his face flushed in sympathetic embarrassment. "The Council will see you now."

Sakaki-sensei and Ryuuzaki-sensei regained their wits very quickly, sobering with fantastic speeds to don a professional facade.

"Our thanks," the red haired Hyoutei instructor deadpanned, his hand outstretched to receive the visitor passes for the group. The badges were deposited and they turned to head towards the lifts. The security guard had already called one for them and held it open.

"It'll be the twelfth floor sirs," he said, glancing over the top of his sunglasses, "and ma'am." He said, a nod in Ryuuzaki-sensei's direction and then he returned to his post.

The large group entered the lift and stood uncomfortably close to one another in the small, metallic box. The silence was awkward as the twenty one people rode up, no conversation between them occurring. The elevator music was the clichéd classical music and was the only sound the tinny room.

They reached the twelfth floor and the doors dinged, sliding open with mechanical efficiency. They exited the elevator and stalked to the single mahogany door at the end of the opulently decorated corridor. Once they reached the brass plated door, Ryuuzaki-sensei paused before grabbing the brass door handle. She turned and looked at the assembled psis. She glanced over the line of Hyoutei psis, Atobe at the head of the line and hers, Tezuka in the lead and began to address them.

"Right, we are here to help, we are here to do our jobs and that is what we will do. Until told otherwise, let myself or Sakaki-sensei do the talking," she said, directing the final sentence to the sheepish looking telepath at the back of the two lines. Nanjiroh gave her a cocky smirk in return. He had intended from the off to leave the speaking to the other two adults, but her glare just cemented his resolve.

Seeing she had agreement from all present, she turned back to the door and turned the door handle, pushing the heavy door open inwards. She strode inside as though she faced international councils every day, leading her line of psis behind her, Sakaki-sensei alongside her, his psis behind him. Nanjiroh and Kevin brought up the rear behind the two squads and the doors closed behind them.

* * *

(1) Let's sort this out, once and for all. Blond, brunet = male; blond**e**, brunet**te** = female.

(2) Come on! Yuusuke Urameshi and Takeshi Momoshiro could totally be related!

(3) Zaibatsu = literally "Financial Clique". A business group whose financial influence allows control over a large amount of the Japanese economy. Think Virgin or Apple.

(4) I feel I should state at this point that I do not, nor would I want to own McDonalds. Vile and disgusting food.

(5) In no way am I insinuating anything with this. I am purely referencing the fact that every time Echizen returns to Japan, the first words out of his mouth are always "It's hot".

As always

R&R

Bumble x


	21. Chapter 20

Right, I have recently moved up the doctor chain; graduating from slave to minion. So, the workload has increased as well.

Enjoy

* * *

The Council Hall was a very large auditorium that seemed torn between traditional decoration and ultra-modern equipment. The floor was carpeted with a lush, thick red carpet that Momo guessed cost at least three years of his wage. At the end of the carpeted entrance was a small dais, wooden in structure and highly polished with a projector and a microphone behind a speaking desk. Surrounding that dais, in a series of ascending rows were wooden desks before soft upholstered chairs. Seated in each of those chairs was a person and upon each of those desks was a placard with a name and a miniature flag. They were the psi representatives of each nation and in this room, currently lit brightly through the spot lights on the ceiling, decisions that affected millions were made.

As they walked to the centre of the room, closer to the dais, they could feel the eyes of every representative on them, silently watching their procession. Even though he wasn't a telepath or an empath, Momo could feel the wordless judgement of the others, sat on their highly decorated chairs like thrones, observing and passing judgement on all who passed below them; a silent company of kings.

Their party of twenty one reached the platform and began their ascension. Despite not having discussed it prior to entering the auditorium, they professionally aligned themselves along the back of the wall, along the projector screen, Hyoutei members to the left, Seigaku to the right. In front of them stood Sakaki-sensei and Nanjiroh; Kevin divided the two squads. Ryuuzaki-sensei didn't take her place before her squad, instead choosing to approach the stand with the microphone attached. She was to be their speaker for this. Ideally, it should have been Sakaki-sensei given that the job was initially Hyoutei's alone and Seigaku were just "consulting" but it seemed Sakaki-sensei's verbal skills were stunted as a result of being loquaciously cast aside by Atobe so many times.

Echizen had already added this to a list of negative consequences of prolonged Atobe exposure even though he was getting to practice some of his more barbed insults on him.

"Assembled council representatives," Ryuuzaki-sensei began, her imperious tone effortlessly commanding the large room full of those who undoubtedly used the same tone on others every day, "I am psi coach Ryuuzaki, speaking on behalf of psi squads Hyoutei and Seigaku. Earlier this month, Hyoutei's squad was tasked with finding and addressing the source of a threatening letter to this very council. We have attended today to give you an update and to hopefully conclude our investigation."

Murmurs whipped around the room, like the beginnings of a breeze through a forest as the council members discussed what had been said with the seat next to them.

"The first conclusion we came to was that, unlike the usual threats the council receives, this one was written with sincere intent to follow through with the promised action. I shall not recite the entire threat but we have deduced that it concerns the council's intentions regarding registration."

Loud exclamations followed her statement, rising in volume with every cycle around the room, chasing the one before it in an increasingly frenetic race. Quickly, the statements erupted into a complete shouting match between the representatives, all clamouring to be heard over each other until an incomprehensible din was created.

Those on the psi squads were silent, stood to attention as if soldiers stood behind their commanders. They could all see the increasing tautness of Ryuuzaki-sensei's shoulders, a certain indicator that she was not amused.

3... 2... 1...

"Everyone, behave." She said, snapping the order out like a parent. And all the representatives in the room immediately snapped into silence, Ryuuzaki-sensei's tone reaching a part of themselves that only their mothers' could chastise. "You are the representatives of your countries and as such, you should conduct yourselves thusly. You are not children and you should not act like a child. If you have something of importance to say, do so, otherwise remain silent." Her chastising tirade finished with a burning stare at the people before her. Momo glanced at Eiji and they shared a silent smile; it was always funny to see Ryuuzaki-sensei ranting at someone and it was usually at them, so it was even better to not be on the receiving end of it.

'Both of you better wipe those smirks off your faces. Ryuuzaki-sensei can't see you but Tezuka is looking your way,' Echizen's voice echoed in their minds and both of them immediately blanched, turning in synch to see the disapproving stare of their captain. They gulped in unison, dreading their punishment following the meeting.

Echizen, who had outwardly not changed whilst mentally teasing the others, turned his attentions back to the front. He could hear the ripple of respect echoing around his mind from the council members and some other emotions from others. A couple of the representatives had a little indignation and anger in their minds and there was one, up in the corner at the back, who had something different entirely. He was about to explore this when he hit a wall made by Nanjiroh.

'Trust me, seishounen. You do _not_ want to look in there,' his oyaji's voice echoed and Echizen was about to disregard it, like he did with everything else his father said, when the sincerity came through. He decided that he would trust his father's judgement on this and withdrew even though he could, with effort, break through Nanjiroh's walls. Nanjiroh heaved a mental sigh of relief; what he'd seen in that man's mind disturbed him and he was a pervert, as his son kept reminding him. He shuddered to think what would happen to Ryoma if he looked.

'He'd probably end up scrambling the man's brains and then go searching for some mind soap,' he thought with a smirk, chewing the gum in his mouth to relieve his need for a cigarette.

"Brilliant," Ryuuzaki-sensei continued, a malicious smile on her face, "now that we've established we're all adults here, we can continue. I have told you this not to influence your decision about registration but to enlighten you as to the nature of the threat. Although the agenda for your meeting is not confidential, it is difficult to obtain, so that has led us to some conclusions about the perpetrator. Your meeting place was a secret though, and this was clearly written in the threat."

There was a buzz in the room, a build up of tension and all the people on the platform could see one council member lean over as if to say something to their neighbour. A wordless acerbic look from Ryuuzaki-sensei stopped their whispered conversation before it even happened.

"This is the main cause for concern. What we intend to do is search each of your minds to find if there is any evidence of tampering." A hand was raised in the middle of the auditorium and Ryuuzaki-sensei nodded in acknowledgement of their question. A middle aged man stood up, his placard declaring him the English representative.

"Thank you Ryuuzaki for the floor. I just mean to ask one question; we all have the Sword in our minds and wear dampeners. How could something get passed those?" Ryuuzaki-sensei raised an eyebrow and waved a negligent hand behind her in Nanjiroh's direction. He took that as his cue to speak.

"The dampeners hinder, but do not stop the determined and high levels and the Sword of Damocles merely stops you from informing others; it does not stop others from finding out through you. We have determined that the most likely way the perpetrator got his information was when one of you was asleep, when your mental barriers and the dampeners were at their weakest."

"Would that not make our family members the most likely culprits though?" asked another member, his heavy set jaw trembling with fat.

"As previously mentioned, we are suspecting someone of a high level to bypass the dampeners and, if they are strong enough to do this, then range and proximity would be the least of their concerns," Sakaki-sensei voiced. "However, that does not rule out the possibility."

A whisper of voices cascaded around the room, quickly escalating in volume until a sharp glance from the pink clad female quietened them.

"So what do you need from us?" a meek looking man in the middle of the room asked, raising his voice.

"Like we said," Ryuuzaki-sensei started, nodding her head in acknowledgement of the question, "we are not here to influence your decision. We want to have the minimum amount of disruption to the meeting. What he hope to do is have one of our telepaths test the dampeners and see if the concept of information extraction with them on is possible. If that proves to be, we will endeavour to check all of your minds for signs of tampering."

Dubious glances were exchanged silently between the assembled council members. Although all were deeply ensconced in the world of Psis, few had ever been on the receiving end of their powers. None wished to volunteer themselves for this task, all wanting another to take up the burden.

"I shall volunteer, Ryuuzaki," came the voice of the English representative. He arose from his seat and made his way down the stairs to the dais at the front. Echizen blandly noted he was rather portly around his middle but had kind eyes and many lines on his face from smiling.

He stood at the front, small amounts of nervousness leaking through his dampener and he waited for the telepathic invasion. Ryuuzaki-sensei nodded to Nanjiroh, who stepped forwards. He stopped, three feet away from the man and simply stared into his eyes. Although eye contact was unnecessary for his talent to work, it did facilitate it and made such actions easier.

Nanjiroh extended his mind to the other, feeling the impediment of the dampener; it was akin to pushing through thick treacle. He weathered onwards, pushing hard and trying to enter the other man's mind. Eventually, after much straining, he felt the barrier weakening and with a final push, he entered the other's mind. The English representative's mind was an open book to him; his past and present laid out like a story to him, his dreams for the future mere flashes of images past his eyes.

Nanjiroh had breached a dampener. The onlookers knew the moment it had happened as the representative's eyes went wide at the foreign feeling of someone else in his most personal space. The Psis looked on in affirmation of their theories, the representatives looked on in slight horror. They had spent most of their lives functioning with these dampeners affixed to their skin and to see someone breach them was a shock.

Nanjiroh quickly withdrew from the other's mind and stepped back to his place along the curved wall. The English representative stuttered back to his seat, still not quite sure of what had happened.

"Now that we have proven that a level nine can breach the dampeners whilst you are awake and mentally prepared, it is fair to infer that a weaker level could do so whilst you were asleep, is it not?" Ryuuzaki-sensei spoke once more into the microphone. Although none wanted to agree with her, every nation's representative nodded their support. "Thus, you must all note the necessity of checking your minds for evidence of tampering from outside sources."

There was a small vocal disruption at this but it quickly dampened down as the assembled people realised the importance of such an act. Ryuuzaki-sensei turned her head minutely to the side and the two Echizen's stepped forwards.

"I am sure you are all aware of the two people stood behind me. They are Echizen Nanjiroh and Echizen Ryoma and you must have met them at least once before to have the Sword of Damocles put in place. They will assess each and every one of the minds present to see whose has been tampered with, if any. Those that have must agree to closer scrutiny from the assembled squad to find the perpetrator." And then, she stepped back, letting the two Echizen's handle the situation.

"Do you need us to assemble?" one voice said aloud and Nanjiroh shook his head.

"No we don't. We'll assess you all from here." He turned to face his son, standing so that they were face to face. Nanjiroh had to admit, it had been a long time since he was last this close to his progeny and a wave of nostalgic paternalism washed over him and he resisted the urge to brush some errant hairs from his son's forehead.

Ryoma glanced up to his father, a confident look in his eye. 'Brush my hair and I shall make it seem like the last time I let Karupin loose was playtime,' he whispered evilly into Nanjiroh's mind, having caught the errant thought. Nanjiroh sighed. This was why simple things were hard between his son and himself; they had spent so much time joking and competing with one another that affection was difficult. Ryoma had grown up with his father being more his teacher than any form of relation, so simple gestures of love were impossible. Sure, they communicated fine and they had developed almost their own language of insults and snide comments but hugs or any forms of bodily contact were extremely limited.

And sometimes, just sometimes when Nanjiroh paused to think about it, it hurt to know that he would never have the same level of simple parental contact that Rinko did.

Mentally shaking himself from his melancholic thoughts, Nanjiroh turned back to the matter at hand. He reached down and gently wrapped his larger, more tanned and calloused hand around his son's and extended his power. Unlike that Ryoma did with Kevin in lending his power, he was joining with his father's. The two telepaths extended their mental reaches around one another until there was little separation between them psychically. They were, in essence and to the amateur mind, one.

To them, however, there was a great differentiation. They had not simply merged, they had performed something much more complex than that. Ryoma had become a mental defence for his father.

Nanjiroh was the spear and Ryoma was the shield. Najiroh's primary task was to search the minds of the council members. Ryoma's was to protect his father. It was odd for Nanjiroh to have such role reversal; it was a parent's duty to protect their child but here was his, literally defending his very mind and sanity from any possible invasions.

With a deep exhalation of breath, Nanjiroh extended himself to the minds of all the council members. He set up his own little mental world to examine them in; to him they were assembled in the church he had married his wife in. Seated in the pews were lit candles, their flames flickering in the lofty cathedral air. Each candle represented a council member's mind and each candle could be easily examined. He didn't see Ryoma anywhere in the church but he comforted himself with the knowledge that he was there. He could feel him in the raised ceilings of the church, in the apse, wrapped so deeply into the woodwork that he was ingrained in the polished substance.

And then he remembered why his son was in his head, literally all around him. To protect him.

Given that his son was everywhere and nowhere, he could respond quickly should anything happen.

Nanjiroh shook his head as he walked through his own creation. He approached every candle and examined them closely. Although he appeared in his mind to only be looking at the wax and wicks, he was in actuality, examining every mind of every councilman in minute detail. He was looking for tampering, which would seem as abrasions or damage to the candle.

It was as he was nearing the middle of the row closest to a heavily carved pillar that he noticed it; a single candle that was burning like all the others but it seemed off. The colour was a little darker, the flame a little smaller and if he looked close enough, he could make out flecks of a noxious green in the tired orange of the flame. This was his tampered mind and the perpetrator had left an imprint of themselves.

He approached it carefully, unwilling to rush into what he knew could be a trap. With uncharacteristic gentle hands, he raised the candle to eye level and stared deep into the light. In the dancing oranges and yellows, he could make out images; memories of another's life.

He saw the representative asleep in bed. He saw his marriage and children. He saw a little blonde girl with wispy pigtails, playing in a field.

And within the yellow images, he saw the poisonous green of the culprit. He saw the perpetrator sneak into his mind, sliding like a snake. He experienced the delight at learning the information he needed. He heard the bone chilling laugh as he slid back out.

He felt the pain as the trap closed.

* * *

The surrounding spectators watched as two members of the Echizen family stepped closer to one another. They watched in silence as they made contact with each other and they paused with a tentative breath as suddenly, everyone realised that something was not right.

There was a shift in the air; an incomprehensible heaviness that settled around everyone that none could identify. All eyes were fixed on the two dark haired males stood in the middle of the auditorium as these changes came about. No-one had felt anything similar to this before; it was as though the very air they breathed suddenly was made of treacle. It was heavy, settling around their shoulders like a noxious cloak.

Eiji glanced around nervously, unsure what to make of this new phenomenon. He continued to stare at the two Echizen's and noted something odd. With his eyesight - which was marginally better than the average bear's (1) – he could see the minute drops of sweat forming on both Echizen's brows. He saw Nanjiroh's eyebrows furrow as though he was thinking really hard and he saw Ochibi's fingers twitch with the slightest muscle spasms.

And then, he saw the smallest bead of vermillion creeping slowly down Ochibi's cheek. He tracked the thin line scoring its way to the sensitive and vulnerable neck, marking its path like a knife. He followed the trail back up with his eyes and saw where the offending redness had come from. And he saw it originated from his ear, a tiny trail of overflowing liquid.

Now, Eiji wasn't known for being the sharpest crayon in the picnic basket (2) and he would be the first to admit that he didn't know a great many things. He didn't know the intricacies of neurosurgery. He didn't know the finer, nor indeed most of the broader, points of Psi talents. And he certainly didn't know much about telepathy.

But he did know that bleeding from the ears was bad. From what he'd watched on the television, bleeding from there was usually followed by collapse, ambulances and death.

So, bleeding was bad.

Which was why Eiji rushed forwards to the two Echizen's before anyone could even come up with the notion of stopping him. He could see out the corner of his eye Oishi's alarmed look and even Momo's half stretched arm to stop him. He ignored both.

His Ochibi, his precious teammate, needed help.

And, thinking nothing of the consequences, Eiji grabbed the arms of both Echizens. He heard a gasp from somewhere along the wall, a ripple of confusion among the councillors and then, everything went black as his mind was taken to wherever the two Echizens were.

Eiji looked around, confused. 'Where am I?' he thought, glancing around the arched ceilings and dank air. He thought he was in a church but one that he had never seen in the real world. The air was heavy and stale, smelling old and as though something had happened. That electric feeling was stagnant in the gas.

He could see no sign of either Echizen male and he began to wander. As he walked down the apse to the pews, he could see the darkened remains of burnt candles. Not candles that had burned themselves out but those that were alight and then, were suddenly silenced by a strong wind.

'What is going on here?' he wondered, thinking that it would have been a better choice for him to grab someone and rush in with them. Momo would've been up for that, or even Oishi. His first thought would have been Fuji but a little voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his maths teacher said that was a fundamentally bad idea.

The simple, malformed notion of letting Fuji loose in Ochibi's mind was wrong on so many levels.

Because, deep down, Eiji knew where he was. He knew he was where the two Echizen's were and that meant that, here in this place, something had gone wrong.

He looked around, his jaunty red hair seemingly the colour of blood in the dimness, searching for hide or hair of the two telepaths. His footsteps echoed on the stone tiles of the floor as he surveyed his surroundings. His eyes were slowly adapting to the darkness; dilating so his irises showed a mere sliver of indigo around wide black pupils. And that was when he saw it.

In the corner, near the back of the room, nestled in the shadows of an intricately carved pillar, was a glow; a dark orange that was fuzzy and reminded Eiji of urine. The colour felt wrong to Eiji; instead of filling him with hope, like most lights did, it made him feel dread as to what was about to happen. It felt like a dead light; a visual knell of despair. It was so dim and weak that he only saw it when he was looking right at it. He approached the poor light slowly, advancing as though it would hurt him. As he got closer, he could see the abstract shapes becoming more formed, morphing into candles. He wondered how and why they were there.

And as he neared, mere feet away from the source of the offensive light, he saw it.

The body of Echizen Nanjiroh, boneless on the ground, like a puppet that had lost its strings.

Dead to the world.

* * *

(1) Tribute to Yogi Bear

(2) Little tribute to TFS there "Now I may not be the brightest knife in the crayon box…"

* * *

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnddddddddddddddd let the lynch mob begin. (My first ever cliff-hanger)

R&R

Bumble x


End file.
